Stand Alone, Together
by stardust123987
Summary: Jean Murphy was a test to see how women could hold up in wartime combat. Along with her new friends and brothers, she has to face the grim realities of war and loss. As she continues through, she will create bonds with the men of Easy Co. that cannot be forgotten and find that she can't control her heart, even in the middle of a war. ON HOLD.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the mini-series.

Chapter 1.

"You people, are at the position of attention." Captain Sobel barked at the men of Easy Company walking through them, eyeing anyone that he saw a flaw in. First picking out one trooper and reprimanding him for apparently blousing his pants, "finding" dirt in another trooper's gun, and pulling a piece of thread from a chevron on another man's shoulder. Setting to his left, he started to walk toward another man, but then someone else caught his eye and he made his way to the far right.

Most of the men quickly noticed where Sobel was making a beeline to. As their Captain stopped in front of a fourth trooper, he stood even taller and glared down to the private in front of him.

"Private Murphy," Sobel started. "Why in God's name do you think you should even be here?'

The trooper in question started to answer before being interrupted by Sobel.

"Because I can see no reason why any one would see fit that a _woman_ would be any asset in war except as a nurse or as entertainment. Is that what you really came here to do Miss Murphy. 'Entertain and distract my men?' Because if so, I will have you kicked out of here so fast your little brain wouldn't begin to understand what happened."

Private Jean Murphy stayed silent, waiting for her berratment to be over, knowing that it would soon pass.

"Private Murphy, I repeat, why are you here?" Sobel barked.

"To become a paratrooper and serve my country, sir." Murphy quick responded.

"Paratroopers are the best, and my company will be nothing but the best. You Miss Murphy are not and will never be a true part of this Company."

He then leaned in so only Jean could hear and said, "I will find a way to get you out of this company. You will not make it out of this, I promise you that."

Private Murphy just started ahead, doing her best to block out the words of her commanding officer.

Sobel turned away and continued to yell at the men, letting them know that thanks to the men who had offenses and to Miss Murphy holding back the company, that they all had their weekend passes revoked. A few men rolled their eyes while others held in noises of anger as their captain laid out orders to change to PT gear and start their next run up the mountain.

As the men were dismissed by their platoon leader, Winters, they all ran back to the barracks to change to PT gear.

Jean Murphy quickly ran to her bunk and took off her jacket and pants, having her PT gear under her clothes for a faster and more private change. A few men looked at her quickly before averting their eyes while one man, George Lutz, a radioman if she was correct, gave her a half smile before heading out the door.

After being at Camp Taccoa a few weeks, Jean had only ever spoken with the other men when it was necessary or she was responding to an officer. She understood when she started that she would be tough since she was to be a woman training for combat, not just a nurse like most woman that were in service. But in the Army's strive for gaining any upper hand in the war, she was chosen from a small group of well-trained nurses to join various groups of the armed forces to see how women in the forces would work. She and the 5 other nurses from her group that were chosen were also told that they would provide assistance to the medics and at least be a great morale booster for the men.

Jean was never a fan of the reasons the Army told her she was serving, but instead ran with the idea that she was training with the best of men and so far, was making the cut. No matter what Sobel said, she new she has the muster to get through it no matter what he tried to throw in her way.

As Jean made sure that her hair was secure in her tight bun, she followed the last of the men out of the barracks. She heard the men bantering with another company as they passed them on their way to Currahee and smiled as they made jibs at one another. But her smile quickly fell off of her face as she felt one of the men in the other company slap her backside as she ran by and say "Nice ass on that one!" to the rest of his friends. Jean immediately stopped jogging and was about to turnaround and go back when she felt two pairs of hands grab her arms and shoulders and turn her around so fast she almost fell down trying to keep step with them.

"Don't bother with those guys, their CO is already on his way out, and I'm sure he'll give 'em more hell than you." The man on her left, Guarnere, said quickly.

"They ain't worth a breathe, we'll get them back some other time. Sobel will use anything against you, gotta keep your head down," said the other man to her right, releasing her arm that he has been holding.

Jean looked to Guarnere and the other man with a small glare, but realized that they were right. She would be kicked out if she started anything with another trooper, and she could hear Dog companies CO barking at the men from where she was about respect and getting passes revoked.

Jean nodded, still with a grimace on her face, "Yea, I guess. Thanks."

"Ain't no problem, Murphy. We all gotta stick together." Guarnere said with a toothy grin before breaking away from her side to go run beside someone else.

Jean picked up her pace and followed in line with the rest of Easy company as they made their way to the top of the mountain.

"We're not all that bad." Jean heard from behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw George Lutz coming up on her left as he continued on.

"I mean, yea, we smell, cuss, and say a lotta shit we don't mean, but we're the good guys." Luz said with a smile.

Jean just nodded, not fully comprehending that another member of the company was actually starting a conversation with her.

"I mean, Sobel's a dick, but there are a few of us that are just plain wonderful." he continued with a wink.

Jean snorted a bit about his comment of Sobel and nodded.

"Hey," he said, elbowing Jean in her arm, "You do gotta forget what those guys in Dog said. They just want a rise outta you. That's what they do with the other girls too, but they let it get to them and left. You ain't gonna do that."

"Oh yea? And why shouldn't I? It'd be easier to just quit and get out. I've been here 3 weeks and those Dog comments are more words I've heard from anyone in my own company except this conversation now." Jean huffed, not used to talking while running.

"Cause you just can't quit. You're in Easy. You're one of us, and we won't let you quit." George started. "Besides, we've seen how you keep your cool with Sobel and still kick our asses in most of our runs and PT."

Jean scoffed and started to say more before George cut her off.

"Besides, not like you've ever talked with any of us. Always sit by yourself at meals and never play cards with us. You're not the only one that gets weekend passes revoked and sits in the barracks. We just all figured you didn't want to talk since you never say nothing."

Jean stumbled a bit over a large rock and George grabbed her upper arm and kept her running.

"Thanks," She said quickly.

"Ain't no problem, like I said, we ain't letting you go so easy." He said with a wink before dropping his hand.

"Thanks for that too. Really." Jean said softly as she could with her panting breath.

"Course. But now that I know you can talk, you gotta play cards with us since we're all out of passes for this weekend anyways."

Jean smiled, "Sounds like a plan."

George nodded and huffed, "You might as well take off now, I know you've been dying going as slow as me!"

Jean smiled at George and nodded, "See you at the bottom."

George smiled back and waved her on with his hand as he kept his pace.

She took larger steps and passed a few more men as she got to the top of the mountain. She slapped the top as she made eye contact with Sobel who stayed quiet as she was in the first to the top and was making great time.

As the company made their way down the mountain, they came to a stop and got in formation as Sobel came barreling after them, saying something about abysmal times and being the best, even though they had just set a new record for their Company.

They were dismissed by Winters and as they walked to their barracks, Jean looked over to the Dog Company barracks and saw the men doing PT, led by their CO who had reprimanded them earlier. Jean smiled as at least there was a bit of justice for their unwanted hands.

After the men showered and came back to the barracks, Jean took it as her queue to head over and get clean before dinner would be served. Grabbing her towel and fresh set of clothes, she took off to the shower facility.

Upon getting the showers and thankfully not finding anyone there, she quickly stripped her clothes off and jumped in the now cool water.

"Damn men taking all the warm water," she said to herself.

Scrubbing herself quickly, she rinsed off and started to dry. No longer were the days of showering and relaxing. Now they were filled with quick movements and her always being on edge in case she heard anyone coming into the showers.

After getting new clothes on she looked at herself in the mirror. The girl she saw was still her, but very different from just 3 weeks ago. Gone was the pale, unblemished skin and bit of extra weight on her hips and chest. She now has constant sun burn on her nose with tanned arms and legs. And any of her "baby fat" as her grandma put it was gone. She still stood quite tall for a woman at about 5'7", but felt taller since her back was now used to being at attention. She knew she had gained muscles that were there before, especially in her arms, and her legs more more toned than ever. She has run track in school, but that was nothing compared to this. Her hair was the same, still a dark brown with a few more highlights from the sun. And her eyes were the same. Same brown eyes staring back. She smiled at the face in the mirror and turned to the door to head back to the barrack.

As she walked through the door, she heard Lutz call out her name.

"Murphy! Hey, you'd better be good at cards! I gotta spot over here with your name on it."

Jean smiled and nodded, "Be right over!"

She put her dirty clothes in her hamper in her foot locker and began to walk over the large group near Lutz cot and sat down.

"Okay," Lutz started, "Now the game is 5-card stud. Buy in is 2 cigarettes. Ready?"

Jean looked around at the faces she had once seen as strangers and was met with no hostility, just smiles or curious faces since she really hadn't talked with anyone since she got there. Maybe this could get easier, she thought to herself. Maybe she just needed to give them a chance so they could give her one back.

"Deal me in."


	2. Chapter 2

Growing up, Jean Murphy wasn't a quitter. When her father and her had to take in her grandparents because they were kicked out of their house, Jean got a job at age 13 delivering milk to help pay for the extra expenses. When she was told she she should give up and leave school by some of her male peers and a teacher, she ignored them and went on to be in the top of her graduating class in high school. No matter what had been thrown at her during her life, she always fought tooth and nail for what she thought was right. Today was no different.

After going through two classroom meetings on enemy engagement and a geography lesson, Easy Company was sent to lunch and was to be followed by PT.

Since George Lutz has introduced Jean to the men of the company over the last few weeks, she knew most of their names and had developed small friendships with a handful of them, while having at least a working relationship with the rest of the men. Most of them didn't see her as a woman now since she kept up with them in every exercise and class. They just saw her as another trooper, which was fine with her. A few men were a little prickly toward her, but she ignored them and would move on.

She became closer with George, learning that he had two sisters at home and that was one reason he felt like he needed to get to know her at first more since if it was his sisters in her shoes, he'd want them to have a friend too. But then once he did befriend her, he found that they had a lot of interests in common as well as both having great senses of humor, though his was more witty and filled with impersonations while Jean's humor was dry and sarcastic often only cracking a grin.

Her other closer friend was Bill Guarnere. Bill was a tough nut to crack, but after the Dog Company incident, he had begun to regularly drag her over to sit with him at mealtimes and joke around with her on the weekends, since he too found himself with weekend passes often revoked.

But today, even though Jean had thought things were on their way up, a certain man named Herbert Sobel tested everything Jean thought she could do. After training in full gear for the first time and running through the obstacle course two times, Easy company was ready for their day to be over. And it almost was, except when Sobel called the men to attention.

"Easy Company. It is my understanding that many of you think you are capable of being a paratrooper. But to be a paratrooper in _this_ company, you must be the best. And there are a few people here that are not the best." Sobel began pacing the ranks until he saw his target.

"Miss Murphy." Sobel started, knowing that disregarding Jean's rank showed how he lacked any respect for her as a member of the company. "Do you think you are fit to be a part of this company?"

"Yes, sir!" Jean replied.

"And as a member of this company, you think that you have the right to use that gun in your hand, is that correct?"

Jean's brows furrowed for a split second, not understanding where Sobel was headed. "Yes, sir."

"Then if you think you can handle that gun in combat, you should be able to handle it now, correct?" Sobel asked with a sadistic smile on his face.

"I am fully capable of handling this weapon as far as I have trained with it just like the rest of this company, sir!" Jean replied, still not full grasping what Sobel was getting at.

Sobel smiled and turned away from her and yelled out "Sergeant Toye, how much does your standard issue M1 weight?"

Toye looked at Sobel and then back to attention before answering, "12 pounds, sir."

Sobel nodded and repeated, "12 pounds." Then quickly turned and fully face Jean. "Miss Murphy, if you are so confident that you can handle that weapon, that is only 12 pounds, then you will hold it above your head for the next two hours. If you can't hold a standard piece of equipment that weighs less than a woman's shopping bag, then you can't hold your weight as a paratrooper. Is that understood?!"

Jean ground her teeth before replying "Sir, yes, sir!."

"Miss Murphy, you will begin now!"

Jean quickly raised her M1 above her heard in her hands and held them up straight in the air.

"Lieutenant Winters, you are to stay and watch Miss Murphy hold her gun above her head until she has reached two hours. If she at any point drops her arms or that gun before that time, you are to dismiss her from this company. Is that understood?" Sobel barked at Winters.

"Yes, sir," Winters replied, looking at the ground afterward, knowing that this was Sobel's easy way out of getting rid of Jean, who would be disobeying an order if she failed.

"Dismiss the rest of the men, they are done for the day." Sobel yelled as he marched away to his officer's quarters.

"Easy Company, dismissed." Winters yelled, watching the men, still mystified as to what had just happened with Sobel and Jean. Most began to wander back to the barracks while a few men stayed still, watching Jean hold the gun above her head.

"Men, move out. Sobel's orders." Winters said to them softly.

George, Bill, Toye, and a few others all nodded as they tried to make eye contact with Jean who continued to look out at the field that lead to Currahee, not wanting to see pity on the faces of her friends. They murmured a few well wishes as they turned to base and went to their bunks.

Within the first few minutes, Jean could feel a tremor in her arms and an ache starting in her shoulder blades from staying at that angle for so long. At what she could only imagine was 10 minutes, she was now sweating bullets as her arms were tingling in the worst way and she could feel her entire body start to sway. As she tried to focus on anything but her arms, she saw Dog company starting their PT in the field before her.

The Dog Company CO lead them through routine exercises and Jean felt herself thinking less about the numbing sensation in her arms and imagined herself joining the other company in their training. She saw herself doing jumping jacks and sprints, all the while, blocking out the lack of sensation that had now hit her arms and part of her chest. She began to falter in her mind when she realized her eyes had shut and she quickly snapped them back and focused again on the CO. From what she could see he stayed pace with his men, just like Winters, and seemed to challenge the men if they seemed to easily get through a drill.

Winters tried a few times to small talk with Jean about where she was from, what she did before this, or just letting her know how much time she had been holding the gun. But each answer he received was short and so he never tried to keep the conversation after hearing, "Iowa," "student," and "okay."

He had to hand it to her, she wasn't giving up. The first 20 minutes had been shaky, but she was at 1 hour and 47 minutes now, and by this point he was hoping that she had 13 minutes more in her. When she first joined the company, he had been worried that she would be a distraction, similar to what Sobel had been saying since day 1. But after a few weeks, she had made friends with a few of the men and always pushed herself more than almost any other man in the company. In her first week, after getting her weekend passes revoked, she ran Currahee both days of the weekend to train since she had been in the slower end of the group her first few times. Determination like that was something that Dick Winters respected, woman or man.

Each week, he would see her talk with the men at meals, do anything and everything ordered by Sobel, even latrine duties and night patrols, without any word back at Sobel except for "Yes, sir." She was a force to be reckoned with and Dick Winters was ready to see her succeed.

With just a few minutes left on her 2 hours, Jean began to hear a lot of murmurs and voices behind her so she dropped her eyes from the company still training in front of her and slowly moved her stiff neck to the side. What she almost made her drop the gun and stop.

At least 30 men from Easy, including George, Bill, and Joe were out in front of the barracks, watching her and smiling, giving her thumbs up and short words of encouragement.

With one minute left, Sobel came out of this quarters, and stormed over to the field where Jean and Dick where. Stopping short to glare at the Easy barracks and bark a quick order for them to go back inside, he then went to Winters to confirm that she did indeed, keep the gun raised for the 2 required hours.

"Yes, sir. She has not dropped her arms or the weapon at any time. And she just has 30 more seconds to reach the two hours." Winters confirmed.

Sobel scoffed in anger and went up to Jean face-to-face. "You might've gotten through this, but you won't pass everything. No woman belongs in a warzone and I will do my best to see that you never even get close."

With that threat, he walked away to mess where dinner was starting to be served.

As Jean heard Sobel walk away, she heard her Lieutenant's voice near her. "Private Murphy, you can drop the gun now. You hit 2 hours. You can be done."

As Dick Winters came into her sight, Jean wanted to put the gun down, but realized that she had no feeling in her arms at all. "um, sir, I can't. I... I can't feel anything..."

Dick scrunched his brow in quick confusion and then realized that although she needed help, she didn't feel like she could outright ask. "Okay, How about I lower the gun and you keep your hands on it to ease down, alright?"

Jean nodded her head, "Thank you, sir."

Dick raised his arm and slowly grabbed the gun and began to lower it until it rested at Jean's waist.

"Can you hold it now?" Dick asked.

Jean struggled to say, no, she couldn't as her arms were just as numb but now had an awful tingling throughout them. "Um, I know I'm holding it sir, but I can't feel anything."

Dick sighed in understanding and slowly took the gun from her hands after looking around and only seeing a few officers outside of their barracks in sight.

After removing the gun, he nodded toward the E barrack and Jean slowly followed behind. As the got close, George and Malarkey came through the door, George going toward Jean to guide her inside and Malarkey to grab her gun from Winters. "Thank you, sir. We've got it from here."

Winters nodded and walked toward the officer barrack where his friend Nixon and another CO were talking, leaving the men of Easy to take care of the sore private.

"Jesus, sunshine. You gotta death wish on you? Sobel's gonna be even more pissed that you actually did that!" George exclaimed in Jean's ear as they walked toward her bunk.

"Yea well, it was that or possibly get kicked out, and I am not going out that easily. He's gonna have to do a lot more than that to get me out." Jean replied.

A few men hooted and hollered at her words in encouragement as she sat down and she gave a small smile and nodded in their direction.

"So you wanna go grab some food? Dinner's gonna be getting cold if we wait too much longer," Malarkey asked as he put away her M1.

"No, I can't lift a finger, let along an arm to eat anything, besides I'm beat, probably just going to crash now." Jean said, "But you guys go on, don't miss a meal for my sake."

"Alright, but don't wake up in the middle of the night and ask me for any dessert," George winked as they walked out.

Jean nodded as she started to take off her jacket once all of the rest of the men had wandered out to mess hall for food.

As she tried to move her shoulder to get it off, she realized that her arms were in such bad shape that she could barley move them at all besides her wrists.

"You want some help with that?" a soft voice said from behind Jean, making her jump.

"Jesus!" Jean exclaimed, "You scared the shit out of me!"

The paler man laughed quietly "Well, I'm not Jesus, but I can try and help ya if you'd like?" And then introduced himself as "Eugene Roe." Stating that he was training to be a medic for easy and should be able to help her with her arms.

"Yea, that'd be great, thank you, but don't you need to get to mess for dinner?" Jean answered.

"Naw, I already ate. Got in to mess early since medics had an earlier training today that got out before the rest of you all were done. I have time to help."

The two set about with little words on getting her out of her jacket and doing a few simple stretches and rotations of her shoulders and arms to get feeling back in them.

"Now, they're probably gonna be sore for a few days, so I guess it's a good thing it's a Friday, you got a couple days off." Roe started, "But just remember to not stress your shoulders too much until you get full feeling back, you don't want them popping out of joint."

Jean nodded in agreement. "Thanks again for your help, Eugene. You mind if I call you Eugene, or do you prefer Roe?"

He laughed softly and said, "Well most of my friends actually call me Gene, but it seems like that might get a bit confusing between the two of us. So Eugene is just fine with me."

"Yea, I guess that's a good point. You can just call me Murphy, like everyone else."

Eugene smiled out of the corner of his mouth and nodded as he made his way back toward his bunk where a book on anatomy was sitting half open.

The two sat in silence until the rest of the men started to filter in to the bunkhouse, some getting dressed to go out on the town and the others getting ready for showers, cards, or whatever they were going to do with their free Friday night.

As a few of her closer friends came in they gave her a once over and then told her she had to come play cards, limp arms or not. She agreed and followed them over, watching packs of cigarettes, candy bars, and the occasional dollar bill pass hands as the night went on.


	3. Chapter 3

Jean slowly backed away from her friend as he tried to drag her to the open floor. "No really George, I don't dance. I don't even know how to dance."

"Oh bologna!" he said as he motioned for reinforcements to come to his aid. "Everyone dances, some are just better than others. But by the time you actually get to keep a weekend pass, you're gonna come out with us and dance. This way you'll know how and we can all show off dancing with someone that knows the steps!"

Malarkey, Randleman, and Leibgott all got up to corner her as she half smiled and half sneered at them. "Really guys, I've never danced except on my dad's shoes when I was like 4, and you all will thank me when I _don't_ dance with you 'cause it'll mean your toes won't break!"

"Oh, sunshine, come on, you really think we're gonna let Easy's best girl not show up the locals at the bar?" Leibgott asked.

"You mean Easy's _only_ girl, Joe," Jean responded.

"Eh, small detail," he replied as he winked at her.

Jean started to laugh and that was the time that Randleman swooped in behind her and threw her over his shoulder. "Now, Private, don't make me pull rank on you."

He put her down on the floor where the men had cleared out some space. Jean crossed her arms and frowned but couldn't stay that way for long as George found a song on his makeshift radio that he created from an old broken one and some "borrowed" parts to make it work.

"See Jeannie, just gotta tap your foot and you're halfway there!" George shouted as he began to dance around to the beat.

"You're crazy, George Lutz. And you look like a fool," Jean laughed.

"Maybe, but you're gonna dance with this fool!" he said as he grabbed her hand and waist and spun her in a few circles to the fast paced song.

The other guys laughed and once another song came on, Malarkey came over and instead of pulling her over the dance floor like George, he explained the dance, the steps, and went through the motions until she caught on. Song after song, the men would grab her and teach her a new step or repeat what she learned or danced with each other, just laughing and dancing to the fuzzy songs coming through the radio.

"You see, sunshine, you can dance. Just takes some practice and not caring!" George yelled over the laughter and music.

"Yea, well, maybe this time, but in front of officers at a bar, I don't really feel the need to be the silly girl that dances with everyone." Jean said, suddenly sobering up to the idea of some of her superior officers seeing her dance at a bar.

"Oh, they all go out to forget about this and just enjoy a drink and a dance" George said.

"And enjoy some girls," Leibgott said laughing. "Sunshine, really, don't worry about officers. Only think you gotta worry about is anyone from Easy who tries to steal a dance with ya. We might have to break someone's nose if they mess with ya,"

Jean laughed, "Well thanks for making it sound like I can't stand up for myself, Joe."

"Oh we know you can handle yourself, but you're one of us. Just like if someone tries to pick a fight, Easy's got each other covered." Randleman said quickly.

Jean smiled at the large blonde man and nodded. In the last few months, Jean had come to realize that not only were these men good men, but they really did care about each other, and more surprising, they cared about her. Sure, some still thought she might fall and break something, but for the most part, the men of Easy had seen her push herself, and to them, that was enough to earn their respect. Add to the fact that she almost always helped anyone in need or who was struggling, they saw that as more reason to like her and even pick up on some of her habits.

If someone fell down on Currahee, she never let them stay there, always tried to pick them up, give words of encouragement. She always tried to make sure that they were okay. She tried to take care of them, and in turn, they would always do the same.

Just before 9, Jean realized it was almost time for her to go take her 4th night shift on guard duty of the week, as ordered by Sobel of course. She said goodnight to her friends, assuming most wouldn't be up by the time she got back, grabbed her jacket, and walked out toward the North wing of the camp.

As she approached the small stand where the other two privates were currently on duty, she cleared her throat and they turned around. The private from Able Company, who Jean had seen a few times before when switching shifts, nodded politely at her as he went down the stairs back to his barrack. The other private, from Fox Company, stopped at the bottom of the steps and walked up to Jean and smiled at her like a wolf.

"Well, hey, sweetheart. Just you alone tonight?" He questioned her seeing no one else around now that the Able private had left.

Jean rolled her eyes and tried to move past the larger man to get up the stairs, but he put his arm out in front of her, stopping her steps.

"Now, now. No need to be like that. We could have some fun tonight, just the two of us." He offered, while looking Jean up and down as though she was a piece of meat.

"No thank you." Jean stated firmly. "Please stop and let me by. I have a shift."

The soldier laughed as she began up the stairs and as she was near the top, he grabbed her ankle and puled her backward, making her fall to her hands and knees as he said, "Now come on, you bitch. Stop being a tease. I know you have to be putting out to the Easy men. No way they let you stay here that long without some kind of treat."

Jean saw the private coming up the stairs and as he began to descend on her, she swiftly kicked up with her right foot to his groin and quickly lunged forward and hit him across the face with her fist. "I said 'no," asshole."

The private, now at the bottom of the small stairs was bleeding from his mouth and doubled over himself as he began to rise up. "You whore, I'm gonna show you-"

The private didn't finish his sentence as a land dropped to his shoulder silencing him.

"You will remove yourself from this area now, Private. Is that understood?" Lieutenant Speirs said.

"Sir, she... she assaulted me! She should be kicked out of the-"

"You will remove yourself now, Private." Speirs repeated. "If you would like to bring charges forward, I will see to it that she stays and you will be discharged from service quicker than you can get back to your barrack. Now move!"

The Fox Company Private, glared at Jean and then nodded, "Yes, sir."

As the private tried to walk straight while bent over, he went around a corner and was lost from Jean's sight.

"Thank you, sir." Jean said quickly, righting herself as Speirs came up the stairs.

"No need to thank me Private Murphy, he was at fault." Speirs said while looking out over the open field. "Just be sure to watch out for yourself. You won't always have people on your side near you."

Jean pursed her lips and nodded. "Yes sir, I know. I am more than capable of handling myself."

The CO of Dog Company looked over at Jean as she tried to hide the fact that she was rubbing her knuckles that had made contact with the private's mouth. "Oh, I have no doubt of that. But still, even in friendly territory, you need to be ready for anything."

"Yes, sir" Jean said, as she glanced towards the man next to her.

They sat in mostly silence for the next 3 hours of the shared shift. Speirs occasionally lighting a cigarette and each time offering one to Jean, who shook her head each time and said "No thank you."

Each time Speirs lit up his match, Jean tore her eyes away from the empty field and took a glance to his face, glowing in the small flame. His eyes dark as a pit in the night as he continued to look across the way, focused with intensity on something she couldn't see.

A few minutes before their shift was over, Speirs put out his current smoke and looked at Jean and said, "You're doing a good thing here, Private Murphy."

"Sir?" Jean said in confusion.

"Most of us didn't think women would be good in the army, or even make it past a week. But you did." Speirs said softly. "The other women that were stationed at camp, most of them didn't last through the first week of training, but you held out. And the men of your company respect you. Not as a woman, but as a soldier. It's impressive."

"Thank you, sir." Jean said quietly, looking down to hide a small blush at his compliment.

"But just remember, even though there are those of us that think you are doing a better job than most men, there are still those that are waiting for you to fail."

Jean looked over at the Lieutenant and nodded quickly, realizing that he was saying that he was one that supported her. "Yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind."

Speirs just nodded and then signaled her to leave as he saw the next two troopers coming their way to relieve them. The two new men nodded at Speirs as they took their posts and in turn nodded at Jean as they passed her.

She began to make her way back to E barracks and then looked over her shoulder as Lieutenant Speirs made his way to the officer quarters. "Goodnight, sir."

Speirs paused and looked back, and Jean wasn't sure, but thought he replied back with, "Goodnight, Murphy."

As Jean walked into the barrack, she realized that what she thought would be a time to go to bed right away, the men of Easy had other plans.

"Well, heya there Sunshine!" someone yelled out.

"Hi guys," Jean replied, trudging over to her bunk and talking off her jacket as she sat down.

"Hey, girlie," Bill Said as he sat down on Jean's bunk with her. "How was your night?"

Jean smiled at Bill as she laid back on half of her bunk. "Just grand, Bill. Time of my life."

As Jean went to lift her hands to her hair to undo her bun, Bill stopped her and grabbed her hand. "My God, sunshine, what the hell happened?"

Jean had almost forgotten then incident with the Fox Company private but as Bill grabbed her hand and moved his fingers over a few of the cuts she had received from her hit, she grimaced and pulled away as she sat back up.

"Oh, nothing, just tripped." Jean said quickly, bringing her hand away from Bill's.

"Oh, that's bull, what the hell happened?!" Bill asked again.

"Shh, nothing." Jean said trying to quiet Bill from brining any more attention to her. "Just a mishap with another guard."

By this point, a few more men had walked over, hearing Bill yell out. "What happened?" "What's wrong" "Jean, you okay?"

The questions made Jean uncomfortable, so she just kept insisting that it was nothing, it was a mistake.

"What the hell kind of mistake ends with you hitting another person?" Bill asked as he stood up. "Was it the man on shift with you? He try to take advantage of you?"

"We'll end him tonight, who was on shift?"

"It was the Dog CO, wasn't it? Speirs, right?" someone said.

"No! It wasn't him. I mean, yes, he was on shift with me, but he's actually broke it up." Jean said quickly, not wanting them to think that it was Speirs that did anything wrong.

The men quieted down and looked at her impatietly, waiting for her to go on.

Jean rolled her eyes, "Some private got smart and said something I didn't like, so I hit him, and Speirs sent him off."

"Sunshine, it sounds like you're leaving out something." George said slowly.

"Really, it was nothing I couldn't handle." Jean said standing up. "And now if you all don't mind, I'm going to bed, and you all should too!"

Walking past the men, she walked over and turned off one of the last lights of the barrack to bring the light to a minimum. By the time she got back to her bunk, most of the men had gone back to their own beds, realizing that they wouldn't get anything more from her tonight. She had only gotten angry at George once that they had seen, but her anger was something none of them wanted to bring out when she was lacking sleep.

Roe was the only one still at her bunk when she was back, and just looked at her as she walked over.

"You need me to look at your hand?" he asked.

"No, thanks, Roe, I'm good. Nothing more than a scratch." Jean said softly as she walked around him and sat down.

"And your legs good too?" Roe asked in a whisper. "They might not have noticed, but looks like you gotta small limp. And that don't come from hitting no one with your fist."

Jean sat down and looked up at him. "Please, don't say anything. It's all settled. My legs are fine, just bruised my knee a bit on a fall. Nothing to worry about. Okay?"

Roe just nodded and say, "Alright, well you let me know if you need anything, don't be ignoring anything that could turn serious."

Jean smiled and nodded as she said" Goodnight, Roe. See you in the morning."

"Night, cherie."

As the night came to a close, the men that had passes slowly filtered in.

"Night, Sunshine, George said as he walked past Jean to his own bunk from finishing playing cards.

"Hey George," Jean said sleepily, grabbing his attention. "Why are all of you calling me that? Sunshine?"

"Cause you're always there to brighten our day, Jeannie." George said, "And cause when you actually smile, it can light up a room." adding the last part quietly before waving goodnight.

Jean laid down, thinking about what George said. She thought that maybe it was some rude nickname, or a joke on her that she didn't get. She wasn't expecting a serious answer out of George Lutz. Especially such a nice one. She didn't think that anyone truly noticed her let alone thought she could make someone's day better.

Frustrated with her lack of understanding George's comment, she sat back up and walked over to George's cot where he was pulling on a new shirt to sleep in.

"George" Jean said seriously.

"Cripes, Sunshine! Don't do that to a guy!" George said a little too loudly while getting shushes and a few rude fingers telling him to quiet down.

Jean stared at him and squinted so she could see him in the shadows. "Lutz, what'd you mean that I brighten people's days. I barely talk to anyone."

"And you rarely smile unless you're really happy, but we like ya anyway, cause when you do we can tell you mean it," George started. Jean tried to get another comment in but George out his hand up to stop her. "Really Jean, we all like you. You're our Sunshine cause you encourage anyone that falls and even when you're dead tired, or we all think you've taken your limit as to what Sobel throws at you, you always rise up again, just like the sun. Some of us guys were talking during one of your million guard shifts and it just fit. It's a nickname, Sunshine, and it ain't gonna go away. But you are, cause I wanna sleep. Now stop overthinking things and get some rest. I'm gonna do between now and Monday is sleep. Now go to bed!"

George flipped over on this bed, putting his back to Jean as she furrowed her brow again.

Slowly, she walked back to her bunk and laid down. She heard Malarkey say, "Night, Sunshine, don't forget those dance steps we taught you, you'll use 'em someday soon."

Jean smiled on her cot and responded with a short "Goodnight."

As the snores of the men in the barrack filled her ears, she quickly slipped into a deep sleep with no worries on her mind.


	4. Chapter 4

_Dear Everyone,_

 _Things here are the same as last time I wrote. Still lots of training, running, yelling, and mud. Food is the same too, nothing compared to grandma's meals - Grandma, you would be appalled at what they call food here! I think you'd all like my friends, Grandpa, you'd really like Lutz. He's a joker and he might be able to do better impressions than you. That or I just haven't seen you in a while and he's the next best thing._

 _Most of the men still like me. There are a few in other companies giving me a hard time, but don't worry. I can hold my own and the other guys in Easy have my back._ _There is one officer in Dog Company who_

 _My direct CO Winters is still a good ally, since he normally helps me skirt around Sobel. But I still normally have a few more shifts on patrol than the rest of the guys or get latrine duties._

 _I still have my weekend pass this weekend, so after our Friday night march, I might actually get to go out with the guys to the local bars, but I still have one day to get through that Sobel might take it away._

 _Thanks for the picture last week, it's nice to see you all in a cleaner picture than the one that's gotten so dirty here._

 _I'll see if I can send anything, but since we are taking off in a few weeks for Atlanta and then Airborne School, I might have to take a break from letters for a couple of weeks until we get settle again._

 _I hope everything at home is good. Dad -delivery route still okay? They aren't giving you too many more hours at night are they?_

 _Grandpa-hope your back pains are lightening up. Have you been to the doctor again? Maybe they have some pain pills._

 _Grandma-Did the annual cooking contest go well? I am sure they voted on your recipes for something. I can only imagine that you won at least 2 categories and made Maude Simpson mad as a bull!_

 _Until next time._

 _All my love,_

 _Jean_

As Jean sealed her letter in an envelope, she had just finished getting her stamp on when the letter was whisked away from her.

"George Lutz. I swear on anything good and holy, I will get you if you don't give me that letter." Jean said quickly, seeing the culprit.

"Why, you writing love letters to your boyfriend back home that I don't get to know about?" George said putting on puppy-dog eyes and a frown.

Jean swatted at him trying to grab the letter. "No, it's not a love letter. It's to my family, and I would very much like to get it out to the post today!"

George laughed and continued to dance around the barrack, garnering the attention of Toye and Guarnere. "What's this we hear?" Bill shouted. "Our Sunshine has a lover back home?!"

Jean turned bright red and turned to glare at her friend. "No, I don't. Not that it's any of your business. It's for my family."

"Right, her _family_." Toye joked elbowing Bill in the arm. "She just doesn't want us to know about her secret relationship!"

"Ugh!" Jean shouted as she sat on her bunk in defeat. "You all are ridiculous."

George laughed and walked past her bunk, laying down with his head in her lap. "Oh here you go, sourpuss. I don't doubt its just your family. You write them almost every Thursday at the exact same time. What I do need to know is if there are any boyfriends back home that Easy has to make sure is up to our standards for you!"

Jean's eyes opened wide as she looked down at George before pushing him off of her bed to the floor as the other men laughed at their antics. "No. No boyfriend, and if I did had one I wouldn't tell you! You'd be worse than my father."

Bill laughed, "Okay, okay, so no lover boy back home. What about out here? Anyone of us strapping young men strike your fancy, Sunshine?" as he gave her a wink and puffed out his chest.

Jean looked straight at Bill. "My goodness, Bill. You really figured me out didn't you."

The men all looked around, startled at her monotone voice and change in demeanor.

"I really joined the army to find a husband and get married and have babies. Running Currahee was just a downside that I had to take. And you know who I've got my eyes set on, Bill?" Jean said slowly. Walking toward Bill with a sultry sway in her step. "You. It's you Bill. All I ever wanted was you."

By this point some of the men started to snicker, but Bill looked half awestruck and half terrified. "Um, uh, well, Jean, I um, I mean, you're great and all, and I uh-"

Jean burst out laughing and smacked Bill lightly on the forehead. "Jeez Guarnere! You really thought I was coming for you, didn't you?"

All of the men that had been watch began to fully laugh now that Bill was bright red. "Sunshine, you're a right pain in my ass." He said as he walked to his bunk.

"And you're a pain in mine, Bill. Glad we are at that point in our relationship to open about it." Jean laughed as she went and sat back with George who had situated himself back on her bunk as the rest of the men carried on with whatever they had been doing for the rest of their 20 minute break.

As George and Jean talked about home and joked about their favorite movies, they heard Sobel start to bark outside about starting drills early. Everyone inside groaned and changed to full gear as they headed out to complete their day.

Two days later, after miraculously not getting her weekend pass revoked, Jean mustered all of her strength to get out of her bunk to get ready to go out to the bars with the guys. They had convinced her that since this was one of the only times she had a pass in almost a year at Toccoa, that she _had_ to come out.

At this point, running up and down a mountain, doing PT in 100 degree weather in full gear, and even those 12 mile marches on Friday nights were preferred to going out. Even back home, Jean was always so busy that she never went out with her friends. Instead, she'd either be doing homework or going to bed early to help her dad with deliveries in the morning.

As Jean walked back from showering in her clean clothes and hair down, she got a few whistles and cat calls, but those were the norm now, no matter how much she or the other men in Easy tried to get it to stop. She just figured that the men that did it were too afraid to say anything to her face, so a whistle from far away was the least of her concerns.

As she rounded the corner she ran smack into someone, dropping all of her dirty clothes and showering supplies.

"Oh, I am so sorry-." Jean said as she looked up. "Sir!"

Leuitenant Speirs knelt down to help her gather her things. "Watch where you walk Private Murphy, you might get hurt if you don't watch where you're going."

Jean took her clothes from the man before her and nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll be sure to do that."

Speirs nodded at her before walking away, not giving her time to salute.

"Jeez, Sunshine, you gotta death wish?" Leibgott said to her as he came up, obviously having watched the interaction. "I'm surprised Sparky didn't yell at ya."

Jean just nodded as she looked back at Speirs as he made his way across the campus.

Once they got inside, Jean changed to her dress uniform behind her makeshift changing curtain in a corner and was greeted by hoots and hollers by some of the Easy men still in the barracks that hadn't already left when she walked out.

"By God, Sunshine, I almost forgot you were a chick!" Joy Toye said as he straightened his own uniform.

"Ha. Ha." Jean replied as she quickly walked back to her bunk for her heeled shoes and to straighten her hair after having slid on the dress over herself.

"We should really keep you locked up tonight, Jeannie. Those locals and other company's men better keep their hands off ya." George said from across the way.

"Oh stop." Jean said, "I didn't even want to go and you all said I had to so you could dance with a woman that Tab hadn't tried to hit on."

Talbert turned bright red as the rest of the men laughed.

"But really, Sunshine, you look great. We ain't never seen ya in a dress. Or in heels for that matter." Bill said as he walked up to her. "You'll be saving a dance for good ol' Wild Bill, right?"

"Of course I'll dance with you Bill. As long as you don't step on me again. Last time you tried to teach me a dance and you damn near broke my toe!"

"Hey! That wasn't my fault, you just got two left feet." Bill said in his defense.

"Ha! See, hence why I don't need to go out. Even Bill agrees that I can't dance." Jean argued.

Toye threw a shoe at Bill and said, "Don't listen to that oaf, Sunshine. Everyone knows he can't dance worth shit. You've been dancing with us on weekends for close to a year now and we all know that you really like it underneath your frown. You just gotta try it out in the real world, not in the barrack with a bunch of smelly guys"

Jean looked at Joe, "So you're saying the bar is a wonderfully clean place with great smelling men, huh? I thought you all were going?"

Her friends groaned and laughed as the final small group of them took off on the walk to the closest town to go have a night off and dance.


	5. Chapter 5

The walk to the bar was about 25 minutes, and once they got to the town, the bar was the closest building to them. Jean felt her hair, wearing it down for the first time in months was a bit scary since she didn't have a great mirror to check in and her hair was never tame more than a few hours.

"Stop touching it, you'll mess it up. Looks good, Sunshine," Leibgott said as he grabbed her hand down and pushed her to the rest of the group as they walked through the door.

Jean was immediately hit with the smell of sweat, cigarettes, and booze. As she winced internally, she was pulled over to the side of the room where a few Easy men were already playing darts and multiple empty glasses were sitting about.

"Looks like we gotta catch up!" Bill said quickly as he began to walk to the bar. "Sunshine, anything in particular to fit your fancy?"

Jean just shrugged her shoulders, letting Bill choose. She had never been a big drinker, so she didn't want to say the wrong thing in front of her friends. She figured whatever he got for her would be plenty for a while. And if she didn't like it, then it would last her even longer.

As the minutes went by, Jean began to relax more as she settled into her seat, watching Malarkey and Leibgott play darts while George commentated the game like a radio announcer.

Just as she took a sip, she felt a hand on her shoulder and a voice in her ear, "Ya know, we didn't just take ya here to watch darts all night, Sunshine."

Jean turned around to look at Bill as he stood up and held out his hand to her. Realizing what he was prompting, she shook her head and crossed her arms. "No one else is dancing, Bill. I'm not doing that if we are the only ones. You guys said everyone dances, but I have seen zero people dance."

"Ah come on, Sunshine! They just ain't dancin' cause no one has started off the night!" Bill said, trying to untangle her hands as a few of the men noticed Bill's efforts.

"Yea, you gotta go. Show off those dance steps we've been teaching you!" Malarkey said with a big smile.

"I don't know you guys, it's just a lot of pressure. I mean, what if people see me mess up?" Jean asked quietly, looking to the vacant dance floor.

"Toots, I promise ya, most the guys in here got no idea how ta dance and they ain't gonna know if you dance like Ginger Rogers or John Wayne." Bill said, hoisting her to her feet. "All they'll see if someone brave enough to start the dancing for the night and then they'll all join in. Well, most of 'em will anyway."

Jean smiled briefly and relented, rolling her eyes. "Okay, but if bust a toe from you stomping on me, I'm not dancing for the next two years!"

Bill and Jean began to dance to the Chattanooga Choo Choo as the local band on the stage saw the two coming to dance. At first, Jean started out shaky and Bill stayed close to hold her hand as she kept looking at her feet, often veering off to one side of the other only to be brought back by Bill. But after a few steps, Jean looked up and saw that a few of the other men and local women had begun to walk toward the dance floor and started to dance too.

With more people out there, Jean was less worried about anyone looking at her, knowing that most of the men here were looking at the other women in their nice colorful dresses and silk stockings, whereas Jean was in her dress uniform. Basically a man in a skirt, she thought to herself.

As the first song ended, Jean began to clap and was then spun around to see Joe Toye ready for the next dance.

Jean and her friends danced for what felt like forever, until a song ended and Jean pulled herself away from Talbert as a slower song began to play. As she turned around to walk back to where the dart games were being played and her long forgotten drink was probably finished by someone else, Jean hit a hard figure.

As she looked up, she turned bright red as she saw the man that she had now run into twice in one day.

"Private Murphy," Speirs said as he looked down at her, having caught her arms when she had run into him.

"Sir. I, um... I..." Jean trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Do you always run into your superior officers, or have you made an exception for me?" he asked, dropping her hands.

"I uh, No, sir. I just. Well, I was dancing and then I was leaving and then-" Jean tried to say.

"You're leaving?" he asked, his dark brow furrowing slightly.

"Um, well, no, I just didn't have anyone to dance with since Tab got a new partner, and I don't really know how to dance to this kind of song since the guys never showed me that and I-"

"Dance to what kind of song?" he interrupted again, slightly blocking her way as she tried to look past him to her friends who were all watching her with what looked like a mix of terror and amusement.

Jean getting more and more flustered by the second, looked back at Speirs and meeting him eye to eye for the first time. "Slow songs. I don't know how to slow dance. I didn't get that far yet."

Speirs, amused by her quick outburst nodded with a small fleck of a grin coming out of the corner of his mouth. "Well then, I should let you pass Private. I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable on the dance floor with me."

Jean's eyes widened quickly and then she realized he might be poking fun at her being nervous in front of him. "Yes, sir. That sounds like a great plan. If you'll excuse me."

As Jean slipped past the Leuitenant, he watched her back to her friends who all were waiting, all wondering what was said between the two of them. Speirs watched Jean walk away until she reached the other end of the bar and then turned back, walking to the table the other officers had claimed, ignoring a few lingering glances that were sent his way by local girls.

Jean walked up to her friends and cocked her head to the side and put her hand on her hip. "What is the matter with you all. You'll get flies in your moths if you keep them open like that."

George was the first to make a noise and it was a cross between a laugh and a hiccup. "Jeez Sunshine! You really are something, flirting with Lieutenant Sparky himself!"

The other men nodded in agreement, all beginning to talk at once, all of their comments making Jean turn red.

"Now you all hush. I was NOT flirting. I was telling him to move!" Jean started.

"That ain't what it looked like to us," Bill said, winking at Jean.

"Ugh, you guys are ridiculous. I ran into him cause Tab flung me out after the dance and-"

"Oh no, you don't get to blame me for what happened." Tab said quickly. "You spun off on your own and struck up your little love talk with Speirs all on your own."

Jean rolled her eyes as the other men began to laugh and tried to continue, "All that happened was he asked where I was going, I said I wasn't going to dance anymore, and then I left."

"That conversation sounds a lot shorter than the time you talked with him, Sunshine." George said, looking at her with one eyebrow up, as if asking her to call him on his bluff.

"Oh goodness. You all are a bunch of school girls. No actually, you're just a bunch of men with too much pent up sexual tension. Stop putting words in my mouth and go talk with one of the girls over that keep ogling at you." Jean said, pushing past to find a seat at the table.

"Ah, you don't mean that Jeannie. We aren't making nothing up, we saw- wait, what girls are looking at us?" George said looking around the bar.

Jean began to chuckle as the men and pointed over to the other side of the bar, where three young women were all looking over at their small group.

"Well, now don't think that this conversation is over missy. You'll have some explaining to do if we have anything to say about it." George said with a deep voice.

"Oh Lutz, get over yourself," Jean laughed. "Now go talk to those girls before they set their eyes on someone else!"

"Aye aye, ma'am" George said, saluting her as he took off to the bar with Toye, Bill, and Malarkey on his feet.

"Ya know, they don't do math too well." Jean heard from behind her. "One of them will be back here in the next two minutes since they outnumber those girls."

Jean smiled at Leibgott and shook her head. "They might not be able to do math, but at least they put in 110 percent!"

Leibgott smiled and got up, "Sunshine, you wanna drink?"

"Yea, that'd be great. Could you get me rum and coke?" Jean asked quickly, since the beer that Bill had gotten her earlier did nothing for her taste buds.

"You got it. Be right back."

As Joe walked off to get another round, Jean looked around the bar, finally feeling like she had a chance to breathe after dancing for so long and then being accused of flirting with a Lieutenant. A Lieutenant for crying out loud! Who did they think she was? She would never flirt with another soldier, let alone an officer. Even one that had was quite handsome. He did have a nice smile, though she only saw half of it a few times. And he was polite to her whenever she saw him, even when she ran into him. Literally ran into him. Twice!

No. No she didn't have a fancy for anyone. Especially not Lieutenant Ronald Speirs. That was crazy.

As she leaned back in her chair, shaking her head, Joe came back and handed her a new glass. "To tonight, Sunshine."

Jean smiled softly back and held her glass up to Joe and clinked her glass to his. "To tonight. May we not be as hungover as those poor fools." Pointing out the four Easy men all trying to impress the local girls by downing pint after pint of beer.

Joe laughed and began to talk with another trooper at a table behind them.

Jean looked out to the dance floor, realizing that she enjoyed herself much more than she thought she would and hoped that she could weasel a few more passes out of Sobel so she could come out again.

As she smiled about the dances, her gaze fell across the room to a table where a dark set of eyes were watching her. As a small smile peaked out the side of his mouth, Ron Speirs raised his glass slightly to Jean.

Jean averted her gaze immediately, but couldn't help but to look back almost right away. He still held her gaze and had his glass tipped out to her. His smile was gone, but his eyes played a game with her where she couldn't tell what he was trying to convey.

But not wanting to miss a beat or act intimidated after her embarrassing interaction earlier, Jean took the challenge that she saw and raised her glass back and raised an eyebrow as if to question his motives. He just nodded and took a drink. Jean followed suit and was quickly interrupted by George as he blew out his breathe as he sat across from her.

"God damn, assholes." He said loudly.

Jean tore her eyes away from the man across the room to look at the more than slightly drunk man in front of her. "How so, Georgie?" she asked, taking another large gulp from her glass, trying to cool herself down and bring down the blush she thought she felt on her cheeks.

"Those... those assholes stole my girl." he whined, putting his head in his hand as he pouted on the table, starting to drink a new beer that he had brought with him.

"Uh huh. And by 'your girl' you mean one of the girls that I pointed out less than 10 minutes ago? One of those girls?" Jean asked while taking George's beer out of his hand and moving it away from him.

"Yea, I mean, there could've been a real connection there. You know, like the make your heart stop when you see 'em and you get all giddy just thinking about them?" He said dreamily as he looked back at his friends flirting at the bar.

At his words, Jean looked back across the room without even thinking. Seeing a man in the shadow now talking with other officers with a stern face. "George I have no idea what you are talking about." Jean said as she turned back to face her drunk friend. "But what I do know is that I think it's about time we called it a night. My feet are tired and we will still have to make the walk back. And you can barely stand straight, so that walk will be even longer."

George just nodded sleepily and slowly got up as Jean helped him steady himself. "You know Jean, I like you. You're like the sister I never had."

"George, you have two sisters." Jean reminded him.

"Oh! You know what I mean. Like a fun sister. My sisters would never think I'm funny, 'specially when I'm drunk."

"Uh huh," Jean mumbled as she grabbed her jacket to put on as George began to sway. "And what makes you think I find you funny when you're drunk?"

"'Cause- I mean... Well, I'm not sure..." He trailed off. "What was I sayin'?"

"I have no idea Lutz. Just try to not puke on me, okay?"

George stumbled again as they walked up to the door, grabbing Jean as he wobbled away.

"Jeez George, watch where you're going!" Jean scolded as she tried to reach for the door. As she put her arm out to the handle, another person swung the door open from inside and propped it for her. And she started to say, "Thank yo-" and stopped short.

"Oh! Lieutenant Speirs, sir!" George said loudly. "'cuse me, but I seem to be in your way! Or are you in _my_ way?!"

Speirs looked at George and then to Jean, "Are you alright walking him back on your own, Private Murphy?"

"Yes, sir, I can handle getting him back." Jean said, avoided any eye contact, and trying to usher George through the door.

"Of course, private. On your way then," Speirs said as he kept the door open for them to walk out.

"Thanks a million Lieutenant!" George yelled with a sloppy salut before tumbling over the doorframe.

Jean let George go for a second to look back and stand up straight to the man holding the door. As she stood there, her words seemed to leave her brain, because she couldn't even muster a word of thanks.

Speirs just nodded and began to close the door and go back in.

"Goodnight," Jean said, barely above a whisper. She turned to get George as she heard the music get lower as the door closed. But she swore she heard a quiet, 'goodnight' back from the door just before it shut.

Shaking her head and telling herself she needed to not drink again for a while since even just two drinks seemed to put some crazy ideas in her head. She jogged over to where George had found a wall to lean against and ushered him back to the road.

"Come on there Georgie. Let's get you back."

"Ah okayyy." George whined as the two made the trek back to the camp to sleep off the night.


	6. Chapter 6

"Five OK!"

"Four OK!"

"Three OK!" Jean felt a hand smack her shoulder twice. Her eyes grew big as she realized what she was about to do.

"Two OK!" she yelled to Guarnere in front of her while hitting his shoulder.

In what felt like slow motion, Jean watched as Winters looked out to the world below and just when the trainer yelled go, he went without hesitation.

Bill took two steps up and waited, heard the call, and followed Winters out.

Jean took two steps and looked out to the green fields below her. In what felt like minutes, but was really no more than a second, she was enamored with the beauty below her. She heard the trainer yell for her and she surprised herself. Without hesitation, she leapt out to the air while continuing her gaze on the ground below.

As she fell, she could see everything. All of the green and tan fields below being swallowed by the clearest blue sky. As she felt her chute pull against her body, she began to steady herself to the drop zone.

Closing her eyes, Jean smiled as the wind whipped against her face. Jean laughed out loud as she opened her eyes and saw the ground approaching.

Bending her legs and rolling as she landed, just like she was taught no matter how many times Sobel said she would break her legs whenever she actually jumped.

As she tumbled gracefully and rolled her chute as she landed, she saw Winters and made eye contact, seeing the light in his eyes mirroring hers, both amazed at the jump.

She nodded with her smile on her face as he nodded back with a smile of his own.

"Sunshine!" Jean heard as she turned toward the voice. "Wasn't that a ride!"

Jean laughed at Bill's antics and gave him a hug with one arm as she held the rest of the chute in the other. "Yea, that was... incredible! I can't believe we get paid for this."

Bill laughed along as they made their way back to the main building, waiting to pack up the chutes and take their march back to camp. They had moved camps a few weeks back, leaving Toccoa and marching 137 miles to Fort Benning for the jump training. While the march hadn't been much fun, everyone feeling like their feet would fall off afterward, but altogether, it was a nice change from seeing Currahee everyday. Now the ever looming threats were just obstacle courses, marches, and loosing weekend passes.

Once they were all back at the barracks, Sobel informed them that they would be running the obstacle course and all had to beat their own personal bests.

As they all groaned, Jean joined them since she was now one of the top 3 times of Easy since just a few days ago when she finally raced past Shifty and had figured out how to get over the wooden wall in one movement.

After Jean tightened her laces as the rest of the men started out to the course, she started to jog up to her friends, silently acknowledging a few of them and giving a small smile and head nod to others. They all knew that they wanted to save their strength to get through the course as fast as they could. But just 4 more days and they would be shipping out of Toccoa and on to the final US training ground until they went abroad to finish training.

As they approached the course, they walked up to where Sobel was waiting, looking over some of their heads, trying to find someone.

"Miss Murphy!" He barked. "Where are you?"

"Here, sir," she replied, straight-faced as she approached her captain.

"Miss Murphy, you've had one of the highest times on this course, is that correct?"

Jean squinted at the man in front of her, not knowing where he was going with his line of questioning this time. "Yes, sir."

Sobel nodded. "And since you think you are fit to be here, you should be able to do anything that would be called upon you in a warzone, just like the men, correct?"

Used to his odd lines of questioning to get her into trouble, Jean just went along with what he was saying. " Yes, sir, I can do anything that the men can do."

"Miss Murphy, would you ever leave a man behind in a combat zone?" He asked more.

"No, sir. Never." Jean said shortly.

Sobel's wicked smile came full view as he nodded and began to walk around the other men. "Well then, since you are so sure of yourself and your abilities, you should have no trouble getting through the course carrying an injured man."

"Sir?" Jean asked softly.

"Private Malarkey! Come here." Sobel ordered.

Malarkey stepped forward and stood at attention, quickly glancing at Jean before looking ahead.

"Private Malarkey, you will not be running today's course. Your legs are now broken for the length of this course. Is that understood?" Sobel barked.

With just a split second delay, Malarkey responded with, "Yes, sir!"

Sobel began to circle Jean like a bird of prey seeing a mouse in a field. "Now Miss Murphy, as you have stated, you are just as capable as any man in the unit. And you would never leave a man behind. You need to prove that now."

Jean continued to stare to the course, realizing what was coming.

"You will carry this "wounded" soldier across the field. You have 10 extra minutes to get yourself and Malarkey here across the line, otherwise you are both out of this company." Sobel barked.

Winters began to try and interject on how unfair this was, not only to Jean, but to Don who could be kicked out just because of another person's possible failures. But as he began to speak, Sobel raised his hand.

"This is an order." As he raised his Dick as if challenging him to speak out of turn. "Miss Murphy, you will not let Private Malarkey help you in any way. Malarkey, you will not have any use of your legs, you may only use your arms. Is this clear?!"

"Yes, sir!" Jean and Malarkey yelled in unison.

"The rest of you must beat your personal bests otherwise you will run the course again and be relieved of your weekend passes."

As the men inwardly groaned, Sobel beckoned the time keeper forward and sent him on to mark when everyone finished.

"On my mark, you will begin in your alpha order." Sobel yelled.

The men in front, got in their stance, and at his yell, they started off. Each next group waiting 5 seconds before they started.

As the lines of men began, Jean finally looked at Malarkey.

"I'm so sorry, Don." shse said softly as they moved up in line.

"It ain't you, Sunshine. Sobel's just gunnin' for you and anything he can do to get in your way he's gonna try until one of you gives up." he said back.

"Yea, that's true." Jean said. "Is that what you want me to do, is give up? Is that gonna be easier for you all?"

"Not at all! I'm just saying it'll be like this until you win. And I really don't want to get kicked out, so if you could wait until at least tomorrow to give up, I'd appreciate it." he said with a big smile on his face.

Jean smiled back and looked to the line.

As they got to the front, Malarkey bent over to she could grab his arm and leg and hoist him over her shoulders for the first part of the course.

"Jesus, Don, did you have to eat a second helping at breakfast today? You're as heavy as an ox!"

Malarkey just chuckled as they started the course.

The first few parts of the course were all about quickness of foot and movements, so Jean was able to get through those for the most part without too much difficulty. But as she bounced with another full body across her shoulders, she began to tire quickly.

"Come on, Sunshine, don't stop on me now!" she heard in her ear.

Jean nodded, mostly to herself, to keep going. As they went through the tires and the wall, that is when it got tough. She was able to shimmy through the tires first and then drag Don through, but when she got to the wall, she stopped.

"I can use my arms, remember?" her extra weight whispered. "Just get me near the top and I can get myself over."

"Right" Jean mumbled as she ran up to the wall and hoisted him above her shoulders to the point that he was sitting on her neck as he raised his arms to the top.

Just as Jean was about to give up since he was a little short of the top, she saw two pairs of hands reach down and grab him and he disappeared. As her eyes widened, she felt a shove.

"Come on dearie, we don't have all day." Randleman said as he nodded to the wall, climbing over it.

Jean followed him up and over the wall in one motion, to see Malarkey at the bottom, waiting for her to pick him up again.

As Jean began dragging Don through the mud and under the barbed wire, she kept loosing her grip and realized that it was easier for her to go sideways and help drag him since he could get by pretty well using his arms. The lack of legs just slowed them down so with angling to the side, she could grab his upper arms and give more momentum to keep him going.

As they neared the end of the barbed wire, they came to a small hill and Jean immediately felt a barb grab her side as she tried to slide forward.

"Shit!" She mumbled, feeling the thorn pull loose from her skin as she kept moving, not having time to worry about a small cut.

"You okay?" Malarkey asked breathlessly as they got out of the wire.

"Yea, fine, we're almost done" she said, ignoring the slicing pain on her right side as she hoisted him up again. By this point, they were the last on the course, so she wasn't sure what her time was at. When the other men were still running through, she could guess that she was still within time, but since all of the men were done, she wasn't so sure.

As she attempted to run, but more limply jogged to the final balance beam, she heard the shouts of encouragement coming from almost all of the men at the end. As she made her last step off the beam and looked to the finish line, she continued her pace and ran through the line, hearing the private click his timer.

As she placed Malarkey down, she struggled to stand straight, her back finally realizing what a strain having 180 extra pounds did to her.

She looked over to where Sobel was furiously whispering to the private keeping times. The private shrugged and pointed at his sheet a third time. Sobel, apparently not happy with what the private said, stormed over to Jean.

"Miss Murphy, you made time. But barely. Your weekend pass has been revoked." Sobel sneered. "And yours is revoked too, Malarkey."

At that without waiting for replies or salutes, Sobel stormed off to his barrack.

Once he closed the door, the company erupted in cheers.

"Hell Sunshine, if you'd have told me you could carry a man like that, why the hell did I ever run on my own? I'll just get on your shoulders next time!" George said as he patted her on the back.

Jean smiled softly and nodded, not sure how to handle the praise.

"Alright alright, leave the poor girl alone," Bill said. "She just had to carry Malarkey's big ass across the damn course, give her a break."

The rest of the men chuckled as they made their way back to the barrack. They had all made it in their best times, and none would be re-rerunning the course.

"So, what do you say, Sunshine, dancing tonight? Since you got no passes to show for this weekend?" George teased.

"Probably not," Jean said tiredly. "I have my final night watch tonight and then want to write a final letter from here before we head out. And I'm a little worn out..." She said as they made their way to the E barrack.

"Yea, that's a fair point there. I wouldn't've dragged Malarkey's sorry ass through that mud. I'd have left him for the dogs."

Jean nodded and gave a small smile, honestly too tired to have more of a reaction.

"Well then, I think some of us are gonna head out, last Friday night here and all."

"Enjoy yourselves then," Jean said. "Just watch your limit."

"I have no idea what you are speaking of, Sunshine. I am a man that knows how to hold my liquor." George said as he held a huge grin on his face.

"Uh huh." Jean replied.

As they walked into the barrack, men were already coming back from the showers, ready for their last night out.

Jean began to take off her outer shirt and winced as she felt the tug on her skin again from where the barb had gotten her.

"Shit. You said it was nothing." Don said as he walked by, seeing the blood that had leaked through her shirt.

Jean looked down to see that what she thought had been a small cut was a longer and deeper gouge running about 3 inches across her lower ribs.

"It's fine, Don." Jean said quickly, pulling her shirt back over her head. "I'll go wash it out at medical. It's fine, really."

Malarkey looked at her as if he wanted to call her bluff, but decided against it, heading over to change himself instead.

Walking over to the medical building, Jean felt a few eyes on her as she walked through the camp, but none felt leering or threatening any more. Most all the men on base were used to seeing her since she was the only woman that had stayed with her company in the 506.

There had been 5 women altogether that were called up for the "test." But the two women in Fox dropped after 5 weeks, the women in Able had to leave for medical reasons when she broke her ankle on Curahee in the first 3 weeks, and the woman that had been in Dog had left after just 2 days. There had been rumors that she had tried to have a fling with one of the soldiers and was promptly kicked out my the Dog Company CO, but nothing was ever confirmed.

After finishing one of her last nursing exams at school, she had gotten called into the headmasters office with a few other nurses. They had been asked if they would want to do more than just serve as nurses if it came to that, and half agrees that they would be up for a challenge, Jean included.

With loads of paperwork, oaths, and waivers signed, Jean and 4 other women were assigned to the Airbourne division. One of Jean's close friends was placed in a Tank Battalion, and they had tried to keep in touch as they were both almost through their training for the Army.

Used to the stares, Jean continued to the medical tent where she was greeted by silence. Blowing out a breath she had been holding, Jean was thankful it was a Friday and that most of the men were already headed out for the night.

Walking to a first-aid kit, she began to take off her outer shirt, wanting to see how deep the cut was.

As she assessed her wound and wiped it off, a wound that ended up being more annoying than anything, she heard the entry door open and close. As she pulled her undershirt back down, she saw the one person she didn't want to see.

 _Author's note: This is the first story that I've really gotten off the ground and I hope you enjoy it. There will be a bit of twisting storylines throughout to make it fit with my storyline, but I in no way am trying to diminish the true story of the men that served. Until the next chapter. Thank you._


	7. Chapter 7

_As she assessed her wound and wiped it off, a wound that ended up being more annoying than anything, she heard the entry door open and close. As she pulled her undershirt back down, she saw the one person she didn't want to see._

"Roe, I promise, I am fine. It's just a scratch." Jean said quickly, pulling her shirt over the freshly washed cut. "Just cleaned it out. Don't need stitches. It's fine."

Gene just slowly nodded as he walked over. "Well, if it's truly nothin', then you won't mind if I take a look. Don said there was a lot of blood."

"Don doesn't know what a lot of blood is. He just over reacted."

Roe ignored her and motioned for her to raise her shirt to look at the damage. "And you know what a lot of blood is?" he asked under his breath.

Jean scoffed, "Hmmf, yes. As a woman, I deal with more blood than this on a monthly basis if you really want to know."

The medic in training blushed a bright red and immediately coughed, obviously not ready for that retort.

Realizing that even though she won the argument with her words, he still wanted to check. She raised her shirt to where the cut was and Roe silently nodded. "Yea, not too bad. Did you get the peroxide on it yet? Gotta make sure it won't get infected."

Jean shrugged and then shook her head.

Roe reached to the kit and grabbed the small bottle, taking a piece of cloth and getting it wet with peroxide. "Might sting a bit."

Looking straight at the wall, Jean didn't wince as she felt the cloth and the small sting it brought with it.

"Well, you should be good as long as it stays clean." Roe said, throwing the cloth and other items they used to the wash bin.

Jean nodded. Both stayed silent as he cleaned up the rest of the station and she put her shirt back on.

"So, you headed out for the last night here?" Roe asked.

Jean shook her head, "No, my final night shift on guard tonight."

Roe nodded, "Well, at least you shouldn't have that after this week. Sobel can't have that much sway once we meet up with other battalions. They'll be more men to split it with."

"Yea, maybe," Jean replied as they walked out the doors to the barrack.

"You going out then? Last big weekend before we get to England."

Roe laughed quietly, "Yea, a few of the guys roped me in to play cards with 'em."

They walked in the barrack, and Jean grabbed a fresh change of clothes and her towel. Nodding to Roe, she walked off to the showers, ready to wash the week away.

Once she got to the showers, she made sure that no one else was there before she walked to the back. She was met with silence and smiled to herself. Once they got to Fort Benning, she was overjoyed to find that the last stall in the showers had a lock. So as long as there were no men showering, she was able to shower in peace.

Locking the door behind her, she placed her towel and clothes over the door and began to undress. As she took her shirt off, she stretched her muscles and heard her back crack up her spine. The weight of Malarkey was hitting her full force as she blasted the water on.

Since most of the men had showered before her, the water was closer to cold than lukewarm, but she didn't care. The cool water felt good on her muscles and she saw all of the dirt swirl away to the drain.

After staying in the water a few minutes, the cold became too much and she finished up and turned off the water. Grabbing her towel and drying off paying special attention that she didn't aggravate her cut, she got on her uniform and grabbed her brush, going over to the sink.

As she brushed out her hair she thought that it was getting too long. Almost a year and a half ago in her first week at Toccoa, she had had her hair cut in a long bob so that it would look presentable in her dress uniform but long enough to wear in a bun. But now, she had only tried trimming her hair once, which turned out to be a disaster that Leibgott had to fix since he knew how to cut hair.

As she looked at her hair, her gaze drifted to her face. She was still the same Jean, but she had much more color than she had even seen on herself. While her skin would never be tan and glowing like some of the girls she went to school with, she now had a light tan on her arms and legs and her face seemed to be in a permanent state of pink.

She had noticed for a while that her body had grown more muscle. She hadn't been skinny or fat before, but she had never said no to a second helping of her grandmother's meals either.

When she first started, she hated wearing the PT gear since it showed her pale legs, but now she had no qualms about herself - at least when she was with the company. In her mind, they weren't anything other than her best friends. Sure she had thought a few of them were cute when she first started, but as they grew to know each other through the year and a half of training, she had somewhere began to only think of them as friends. Even if those friends could get on her nerve and then make her laugh a second later, they were there for her and she for them.

She still tried to keep in touch with a few girls from back home, but most were getting married, having kids, or working as nurses. Their lives were all too busy and too different to talk much. She did write her family often. Normally sending and getting a letter a week, all with multiple voices talking to her. Between her grandfather, grandmother, and her father deciding that it was better to write on the same page, they all would tell as small part of their week and spend the rest talking about how she was doing, was she eating enough, etc.

But recently the letters had become few and far in-between. Thinking of it, Jean realized that she hadn't had a letter in almost a month. It was odd, but Jean figured that the mail was either slow or there was another mass firing at the local post and they just needed to get caught up.

Jean spun her hair up into a bun, trying unsuccessfully to tuck the runaway strands back into the base. As long as she didn't see Sobel, she shouldn't be called out for a few loose hairs.

Grabbing her things and going quickly to the barracks to drop off her things, she grabbed some bread a meat from the mess hall side door and made her way back. She had become friends with a few of the guys that worked at mess, helping them clean on weekends or give a hand when she had time, so they were more than okay leaving small foodstuffs out to the side in case she ever came by in a hurry and didn't sit down to eat.

Settling in on her cot in the barrack, Jean got out her paper and pen and wrote a quick letter to her family, making sure that everything was okay, commenting on the weather here and hoping that it wasn't as hot back home. Signing it quickly, she looked at her watch and swore under her breath seeing that she had watch in under ten minutes.

Nodding at the handful of East men left in the barrack, she put on her jacket and headed to the North guard gate. As she walked up, she was able to admire the setting sun and how even though she knew it was the same sun from back home, here it seemed much brighter. That and the fact that she was dead tired made any light seem bright at the moment. Passing the men currently on duty, she saw a private from Able and a private from Dog.

The two men stood up, acknowledged Jean briefly, and then rushed off since they could still enjoy their Friday night out on the town.

Jean stood for a while pacing, trying to get her body to wake up until she head footsteps coming up the stairs. She immediately stopped and went back to the right side of the tower and looked out.

Turning as she head the last step being climbed, Jean was met by Lieutenant Speirs.

"Private Murphy," Speirs addressed, giving a small salute.

Jean responded quickly, saluting back, "Lieutenant Speirs."

Speirs nodded and walked to the front, surveying the open land in front of them. Silently, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a pack of cigarettes. He first offered one to Jean, who shook her head and have a soft "No, thank you."

Speirs just took the pack back and got out a stick for himself and lit it.

Jean didn't smoke often, but she had started to collect packs since the guys had roped her into playing cards at least once a week. When she first played, they just assumed that she hadn't played and in the first night, she had gotten over 4 packs of cigarettes and a few candy bars. Little did they know that her grandpa was a card-shark and had taught her how to play poker when she was 5.

Smiling softly to herself, Jean accidentally also felt herself yawn. Trying to turn and cover it, she was either too slow or too loud because Speirs was quick to say, "Tired, Murphy?"

Jean looked to the CO and saw a slight smirk on his face. About to answer, she was interrupted.

"I know most men in my company would be out like the dead if they did what you did this afternoon."

Jean scrunched her eyebrows, not realizing that anyone but the men in the company would've known about her obstacle course with Malarkey on her back.

"It was impressive."

Jean scoffed quickly, "Why, because I'm a woman?"

Speirs was no longer smirking but was looking straight into Jean's eyes. "No, not because you're a woman. The fact that you carried a man who weighs at least 50 pounds more than you across the course after having done parachute training all day plus a march. That is what's impressive. Not as many people care that you're a woman, Murphy. You should know that by now. It's impressive because you've been training to be a good soldier."

Jean was silent after his words. She knew that she often got defensive about being a woman, but with the daily reminders and inferior comments about her sex from her CO, she always found that she felt the need to defend herself. She'd even snapped at George and Bill a few times thinking they thought she was inferior or couldn't hack it. But they never meant it like she thought and deep down, she knew that.

The silence that followed Speirs honest remark about her grew to almost an hour. While she knew he had been right, she was too stubborn to apologize. She also didn't think that he was the type of man she needed to say sorry to after that. And she didn't really want to apologize.

To their left in the trees, there was a snap of a branch and then the short hiss of an animal.

Speirs has turned his body to the noise and Jean had just turned her head when she heard the noise as another longer hiss followed.

"It's just owls." Jean said.

Speirs squinted into the dark and then turned back to Jean then nodded. Sitting down next to Jean on the stool next to her his gaze continued forward but he began to talk.

"How do you know that's an owl? Sounded like a raccoon or something."

"My mom taught me." Jean said. "Barn owls don't sound like other owls. They don't hoot. They scream."

Speirs nodded. "It sounds angry."

"Probably mates calling each other. When they hunt they don't make noises. And it wasn't a long scream, so they weren't warding off a predator." Jean continued.

Nodding next to her, he looked back out as if trying to see if the owls in the night.

"Did your mother study animals?" Speirs asked.

Jean, startled at the personal question balked initially, and then took a breath before answering. "No, she didn't go to school. She just loved being outside and read as much as she could and learned a lot from her father."

"Sounds like she picked up quite a bit."

"Yea, she did." Jean said softly.

"Does she approve of you being in the Airborne?" he asked as if testing the waters of their previous conversation.

Jean sighed, "I think she would. She always told me to follow my own dreams and no one else's. But she died when I was 8, so I can't be sure."

Silence followed her response. Almost a minute went by before her guard partner spoke again.

"I'm sorry." he said quietly, finally looking at her for the first time in their conversation.

Jean smiled softly, looking him in the eyes. "It's okay. I can still remember bits and pieces of her. But the things I remember most is what she taught me. Like how barn owls screech and don't howl."

Looking back to the distance, Jean tried to remember anything about her mother. Her voice. Her smell. Her laugh. But nothing ever came to her. She could always envision a tall, brunette woman smiling at her, but it was always blurry. All she could remember was what her mother had taught her. How to listen to animals and tell what they there and what they were doing. About constellations in the sky and stories about warriors and princesses in the vast universe sky. But she couldn't remember the voice that went along with the stories.

"My mother tried to teach me how to bake, and after too many unsuccessful attempts, she stopped trying."

Jean smiled, "So you're saying you can't bake a cake, Lieutenant Speirs? Oh, and I was so looking forward to it."

Speirs looked at Jean and she felt her face turn red. Maybe she had gone to far. She shouldn't say things like that to a commanding officer. Saying he should bake her a cake.

But as she was thinking she had stepped too far, he smirked with his eyes on her, "Oh no, Private Murphy, I would hate to let you down. I'll bake you a cake, but I only bake on special occasions, so you'll have to wait."

Jean was completely dumbfounded. Trying to smile back, she grimaced at him before turning back to the open fields. Not knowing what to say, she just did her best imitation of a statue as she looked out.

Surely he was just making fun of her since she had made an inappropriate comment? It was just a confusing comment, but it sounded like he meant to bake her a cake. On what earth could she imagine Ronald Speirs baking a cake covered in flour and eggs. Thinking of the image, Jean couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

As the shift came to a close, Jean heard the next set of soldiers coming up the steps. She and Speirs stood up and he motioned for her to go first as the two privates came up.

Nodding to the men as she made her way down, she walked slower, waiting for her company to catch up.

"Lieutenant Speirs, why are you on guard duty so often?" Jean asked quickly. Ever since Toccoa, she had noticed that at least once every couple of weeks, he would be on guard duty with her. Since Sobel had her out there at least 2-3 nights a week it wasn't a shock that she saw most men in the regiment at some point, but she rarely held a shift with the same person. Speirs was the only one that she ever saw again and it was quite often.

"Just taking my assigned shifts." Speirs said as they walked through the camp.

Jean didn't push the subject anymore and just continued walking without any more conversation until they reached her barracks.

Turning to say goodnight, her toe caught on a rock and she had to take a step forward to stop herself from falling.

She started to say "Goodni-" as she looked up but she realized that she was now just inches from Speirs face.

The pair stood in silence for just a few seconds until Jean remembered where she was and that she was staring-in very close proximity- at one of her superior officers.

Straightening her back and taking a step back, Jean saluted him, "Goodnight, sir."

Speirs locked his back as he mirrored her body language. slightly cocking his head to the side and then saluting her back, he responded "Goodnight to you, Private."

Not wanting to stay in the situation any longer, Jean tore her gaze away and turned around to enter the barrack. As she walked through the door and began to close it behind her, she saw Speirs just start to walk away toward the officers barrack.

She convinced herself that he had only walked her back and stayed because he wanted to see her safely back. She also had to tell herself to stop thinking about it and focus on the fact that she was a paratrooper. He was just a CO that had a shift with her. Nothing more. It would never be anything more. Not that he would ever think of Jean in a way other than a soldier. But if he did... No. She was just thinking about it because he wasn't one the guys and was polite to her. Not to mention that he was attractive with his dark eyes and hair, and strong shoulders and- No. Just a soldier. A commanding officer. Jean shook her head as she went to sit on her cot and change before going to bed.

Most of the lights were out as she saw that some of the men were back from the bars while the others were probably living up the night since it was their last weekend stateside.

Yawning as she laid back to bed, she heard Malarkey roll over in his bed and face her.

"So Sunshine, how'd your last post go?"

"Well, might've been my last post here, but I'm sure I'll grab a few hundred more patrols wherever else we go to." Jean said softly as she already was starting to lose consciousness.

"Eh, yea, you're probably right." Malarkey said as he toseed and turned again. "Least you can finally sleep now."

Jean just murmured in agreement back as her eyelids were too heavy to keep open after such a long day. Drifting into sleep, she couldn't help but picture how her day had so many ups and downs. Their last practice jump, the awful course run with Malarkey, and her odd but nice guard duty with Lieutenant Ron Speirs.


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's Note: To make details of my story work, I am adjusting some of the events that happened in Alborne and changing up some timelines compared to the series. Again, this is only for entertainment purposes and I own nothing except my character. Hope you enjoy!_

Jean was roughly awakened by someone's foot hitting her in the side.

"Oh, sorry about that!" she heard Christenson say as he continued to climb into the bunk above her.

"Ugh, when are we going to get off of this god-forsaken boat!" Jean moaned as she rolled over on her bed.

"Ah come on, Sunshine. Being stuck on this 'god-forsake boat' means that you get to play cards with me and make fools of all these chums." George said as he waved a deck of cards in her face.

"Sorry George, I think I'm all pokered out. I already have like 10 packs of cigarettes that I won't use, and I've eaten all of the chocolate we've won." Jean said as she swung herself down do sit with George on his bunk.

A few of the men laughed and Bill said, "Hell, I'll start playin' again so long as Sunshine ain't playin'. Ain't no fun with her anymore."

"Gonorrrhea , it's not her fault you fall for her bluff every time." Joe yelled over.

"Shut your trap, you lost to her too." Bill yelled back.

Jean just shook her head and laid back on George's bed.

"Come on Jean, you gotta do something. Can't stay in your head the whole trip otherwise you'll go insane." George said.

"George, I think the little voices in my head sound a lot more sane than you all do."

George stared at her for a second and acted like he was weighing what she said, then laughed. "You might be right about that!"

A handful of men began to play cards and Jean watched for a while. Things had been getting a bit too crowded after Bill and Leibgott had a fight, so most of the men were trying to stay busy so it wouldn't get long or boring since that is when they start to bicker.

"I'm gonna go back to bed," Jean said to George. He just nodded, too engrossed in his game to reply.

Jean crawled back up to her cot and grabbed her personal pack, pulling out a few letters. The last time she had heard anything from her family was almost 6 weeks ago now. She had sent more letters than normal asking if everything was alright, but she never got an answer. Winters had sensed that she had been worried and even offered her to come in and use the officers' line, but her house didn't have a phone and neither did anyone in the neighborhood so she couldn't take him up on the offer.

Looking at her family's scrawls from older letters, she smiled softy and hugged them to her chest. As she laid there, she let the hum of the engines and the almost undetectable rock of the ship send her back to sleep.

* * *

Most of the men in the 506 were billeted with local residents of the city closest to the battalion headquarters in Alborne, England. Many of them were housed 2 men to a house, at least with the family's that could afford the space. Most of the families were compensated for housing the men, but just for the rooms. They didn't have to supply the soldiers food as they had a mess hall near the training grounds where they could eat their three meals.

Jean had gotten her assignment and was told by Sobel that since she would most likely distract any other enlisted man living with her since it would just be the two of them in a house, he had requested that she be assigned alone. While Sobel may have thought it was a punishment, the first thing that Jean could think since being stuffed like sardines with all of the men in the boat and then on a train was "freedom!" But she just nodded at Sobel and took the slip from him like a punishment.

Looking at the sheet, it read A. Morgan, 15 Barne Circle. They had all been roughly told how the town was laid out, but she wasn't sure where her street was so she grabbed Bill and showed him her note and asked if he had any clue. "Oh sure, Sunshine, that's where mine and Joe's house is. We're heading there now."

Thankful that she wouldn't have to go back and ask Sobel for help, she grabbed her bag and walked after Bill and Joe who had already taken off.

Waving to Bill and Joe as they walked up their drive, Jean looked at the house she was going to stay in. The shutters were all crooked and the paint had chipped off at least a quarter of the house. But Jean knew that you can't judge a book by it's cover, so she walked up to the door and knocked. She heard a dog bark inside, but otherwise there was no movement.

Leaning over to a window, she tried squinting in to see if anyone was in there or if any lights were on.

Maybe it was the wrong house? But there was a dog inside, so obviously someone lived there. They were either not there or really didn't want company.

Not knowing what to do, Jean just let her bag fall off of her shoulder and she sat beside it on the front porch, figuring the owners would be back sometime soon.

What Jean thought would just maybe 10 minutes turned into close to 2 hours. But with nothing planned except situating into new houses for the remainder of the day, Jean didn't have any where to go or even know where to go, minus Bill and Joe's house, where she didn't want to impose.

When the afternoon sun was almost becoming too unbearable, Jean saw an older man with a few cloth sacks walking up the drive. Standing up, Jean began to walk to the drive until she heard, "Are you the damn yank that staying in my house?!"

Jean stood back and dumbly answered, "Uh, yes."

The man, who was now close enough for Jean to see better just grunted as he began to walk past her.

"Well then help me with the groceries, or are you worthless and a squatter?" he rasped out shoving a bag into her hands as he continued forward and unlocking his door.

Jean silently followed him in and grabbed her bag in the process. His hair was white from what she could tell under his hat, and he had light blue eyes. He was about as tall as Jean, so no taller than 5ft 8 inches, and his face was wrinkled but he seemed like a younger man since his walk was without limp or slowness.

"Sir, I'm Private Jea-"

"Don't be calling me sir. I'm not one of your officers. You just call me Mr. Morgan." he said shortly as he shooed the large dog away from the food bag.

"Yes, si-Mr. Morgan." Jean said, correcting herself. "I'm Private Jean Murphy, I've been assigned to your house for the time being."

Mr. Morgan just grunted as he headed to another room of the house. Jean followed him and the dog into the kitchen as he began to put away his food.

"So, the United States Army is so damned desperate that they're sending women to war now too? In my day, you'd have never heard such a thing."

"Mr. Morgan, I volunteered. And the Army isn't desperate to send me, I'm desperate to go. This war needs more than just hope and good wishes. I'm here to do a job that I signed up for." Jean said, already sick of the old man's attitude toward her.

"Hmmf." Mr. Morgan stopped putting his jars of what Jean could only assume was jam away, and looked Jean up and down. "So you ain't a sissy then, and you've gotta mouth on ya."

Jean stood her ground and continued to look back at Mr. Morgan.

He looked at Jean and then the dog, "Well what'dya say Copper? You like the mouthy lady?"

The dog barked and then stood up and wagged his tail, looking at his master and then to Jean.

"Yea, alright." Mr. Morgan said. "Well, if you're gonna staying here, make sure you don't make noise if you come in past 9, and don't use my teapot. You yanks don't know what you're doing, so just leave the pot alone. If you want any, ask me, and if I don't want to make any, you can go down the street to the bakery to get some."

Jean nodded, glad that Mr. Morgan seemed more bark than bite.

Copper began to nudge Mr. Morgan with his nose as he tried to look up to the counter for any fallen food items.

"Your room is up the stairs just to the left. Bathroom is in the hall right next to it. My room is to the right. Don't go in there." Mr. Morgan said. "You can go unpack yourself. If you want dinner here, I don't make much and it's never very good, but it's food. And it'll ready in an hour or so."

Jean nodded and grabbed her bag again and headed back to the front entryway to go up the stairs.

Looking to her right, she saw Mr. Morgan's door open slightly, but then turned left and found an empty room that had a single bed, a small night stand and matching dresser with a window looking out to the front yard.

Unpacking the few personal items that she had first, she put her letters on the nightstand and a few trinkets from back home out. Then she unpacked her clothes to the dresser and put the remaining boots and uniforms in the bag and put it in the corner of the room.

Sitting on the bed, she reached over and grabbed the wrapped letters and broke out the most recent one from her family. Re-reading it for what felt like the 50th time, she thought again to what could be keeping them from writing her.

Not wanting to think about the lack of connection she felt with home any longer, she found her training pants and a PT shirt and put them on and grabbed her watch and headed back downstairs. Quickly telling Mr. Morgan that she was off for a quick run, he just mumbled something about damn yanks and waved her away.

Starting out down the drive and going to the left, Jean let the pounding of her feet on the ground lull her into a mindless run. Even though they had no PT today, she knew that with almost a week off with no training that Sobel would be on full force the next day and wanted to prepare her body just a bit.

As she ran, she was able to have thoughts that weren't being muddled by all of the men in the background. The weather was a bit overcast, but Jean hadn't expected anything different for England. As she kept her pace, she was able to focus on how far she had already come and on how much more she would have to do. She kept telling herself that she was almost done training like it was an obstacle to overcome, but then she almost stopped in her tracks. After training she would enter the war. It wasn't a far off place anymore. It was a couple hundred miles away. And just a couple of months away.

What would it be like, she wondered. She had a few uncles from Ireland that had fought in the first war, but her father never told her anything about what they said in letters. But this is what she wanted. She signed up and knew going into it that she wouldn't know much until she was in the thick of it. And as much of hell as Sobel was putting them through, there's no way it could be anything compared to war.

Letting her thoughts drift from Sobel to the other men in her company to her friends, she laughed at how far she had come with them. George was a wise-ass, but probably her best friend in Easy. Bill was a close second. They had a mutual non-spoken agreement that they pushed each other more than they other wanted. Whenever Jean wanted to mouth off to Sobel, or give up on a march, Bill would be there to talk sense into her and she did the same for him.

A few others like Malarkey, Joe Toye and Joe Leibgott, and even Roe were all pretty close with her as well. A few of the other men respected her enough, but weren't friends by any means, which was fine with Jean as long as they had her back once they got on the field.

As she came to a street that she had already been on, Jean decided to head back to her temporary home.

Turning down a street to go back, she saw a few men in uniform out in front of a house talking with an older man who liked like a resident of the city. Squinting out at the figures, she saw one turn in one motion and made eye contact with her. Leitenant Speirs.

Jean hadn't interacted or even really seen Speirs since their last guard shift together in Georgia. The officers had all been in different compartments on the ship, and D company wasn't housed near E so she hadn't seen him during daily role calls either.

Looking back ahead, and attempting to focus on running, Jean tried so hard to look ahead that she didn't look where she was running. Just after passing the house that Speirs and who Jean assumed her D Company NCOs were, she stepped into a large puddle that she stumbled into as it was at least 4 inches deep. Trying not to completely trip and lose her pace in front of the group, her arms went out to balance her and she took off even faster down the street not slowing down until she was out of their sight.

Jean couldn't believe she did that. Not only did she soak her foot in brown water, but she made a fool of herself, again, in front of Lieutenant Speirs. Not that it mattered that it was him, but it was embarrassing to have an officer see her stumble and loose her balance so many times.

It was also embarrassing that almost any time she thought of Lieutenant Ron Speirs, she would get pink in her cheeks and start to get a dumb smile on her face.

But no matter what the butterflies in her stomach made her feel, she knew that he would never see her as any more than a soldier. And more importantly, she also knew that nothing could ever happen between them. She wasn't here to fall for some officer. She was here to serve her country. Getting her head wrapped up in a man was quite possibly the worst thing she could do. He knew his place, and she needed to do the same.

Shaking her head and leaving all thoughts of Ron Speirs behind her, she took the last corner and found her way back to the house. Taking off her boots before she went in so she didn't track mud in, she opened the unlocked door and let herself in.

"About time you came back. I offer ya dinner and I thought we weren't gonna show."

Jean hadn't realized Mr. Morgan had actually invited her to dinner, but was not about to turn away a meal that wasn't Army made. She dropped her boots in the entry way and walked to the kitchen to his small table and sat down and let him serve her what looked like chicken and potatoes, but there was no way to be sure.

They sat and started to eat, neither saying grace. Mr. Morgan began to ask questions about Jean, her family, where the 506th was headed (she had no idea), and other topics that Jean answered, asking him a few in return. Jean enjoyed the small dinner. After helping Mr. Morgan clean the dishes, she went upstairs and drew a bath for herself in the guest bathroom, ready to wash away the long day and get ready for whatever fresh hell Sobel had in store for her tomorrow.

 _Note: Thank you to augustah :) More Jean and Speirs interactions in the chapters to come!_


	9. Chapter 9

As the first two weeks in Albourne went by, Easy and the other companies got into a routine of regular PT, field training exercises, classroom activities, and long marches.

"Hey, I mean, at least there's not a damn mountain to climb, right?" Bill said to the table as they ate dinner at mess.

A few men grunted in response as they inhaled their food, or what the servers called food. Today it was more of a slop of gravy over questionable meat and potatoes, but no one complained as it was warm and the cooler November weather everyone enjoyed the hot meal.

Malarkey said, "And at least we don't have guard duty here."

The men responded again, nodding, George nudged Jean in the side, "Yea, you get what three to four nights back without staying out for watch?"

Jean looked at him and nodded agreeing.

She was relieved to not have guard duty as she was able to take space from Lieutenant Speirs. While she knew that there was something in her that was attracted to him, she had made a fool of herself in front of him too many times. And losing her focus on a superior officer was not going to do her any favors, especially if anyone found out.

And yes, it was nice that she didn't have to stay up when she was exhausted multiple nights a week. But since coming to Albourne, she still hadn't heard from her family. She would take guard duty every night of the week if she knew what was going on. She had even gone to Winters to ask about the company mail and if there were issues with receiving or sending since she was close to 8 weeks without hearing anything.

Winters hadn't heard anything, but said he would ask around and see what might be causing delays since he said that his mail had been fine, receiving a letter from his folks just the other day.

George was one of the only ones that Jean had told about the lack of letters, but most of the men had noticed the slight withdraw of Jean from activities and her lack of coming out. She loved the men in Easy, but her ties to her family are what kept her going through nursing school in the states, and what had gotten her through Camp Toccoa until she had made friends with George and the other men. They had always been there to support her, and losing contact with them for so long had begun to wear down on Jean.

As the men finished up their meal, they began to talk about what they would do with their weekend since they finally had a free weekend night without a Friday night march. It was only Thursday, but they could only hope that Sobel wouldn't schedule anything in the next day.

Jean chuckled at a few jokes the men made as they walked to town, each man walking to his quartered house. As the smaller group got to Jean's house, she gave Roe a quick nudge as she walked up to her house as the men said goodnight.

Her and Roe had become closer as they were in Albourne. Sobel had gotten it in his head that even though Jean was not a medic, her nursing training meant that she should spend less time with the entire company, and more with Roe and Spina. She would help with stocking shelves, going through medical files, and starting next week, she was to help with field training for the rest of the company on battlefield wounds and with vaccinations.

Jean was more than happy to help Roe and Spina, but she also knew it was just another tactic to remove her from spending any time with her other friends. She tried to continue to stay positive, but between not seeing the men as much because of Sobel's plan and since she didn't bunk with them, she was falling into Sobel's trap of isolation.

As much as she was feeling left out of the company, it also gave her a drive to prove Sobel wrong. It had been a game between the two of them since her first day in Sink's office when Sobel had flat out refused her into Easy. Much to his dismay, he learned that Sink approved of her in Easy, therefore unless she did something to gain her kicked out of the Airborne, she was in Easy.

As Jean opened the front door and entered to the house, she was welcomed by the same homey smell of strong tea and stale biscuits. Mr. Morgan had a habit of telling her that he would provide her with meals when she needed them, but that his tea and biscuits were off limits. But every night when she would arrive, there was a kettle of tea with just enough for one cup, and always a few biscuits out.

Smiling as she walked to the kitchen and grabbed a biscuit, she walked upstairs to her room. Pulling off her boots, barely unlacing them, she took off her jacket and laid down on her bed.

Thinking that she just needed to lay and relax for a few minutes before she would bathe and get ready for bed, exhaustion took a hold of her as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The next night, a Friday night movie was showing at mess hall, where Jean and a few others were there watching John Wayne talk with some pretty actress.

As Jean laughed at one of Georges impersonations, she heard someone clear their throat behind her.

Looking up, she saw one of Sobel's new runners holding a stack of envelopes.

"Um, Private Murphy, these are yours." The runner stumbled over his words. "I... Sobel had... These are yours. They were lost and all came in today."

At that, he all but threw the papers into Jean's lap and turned around and walked quickly out of the hall.

"What the hell was that about?" George asked.

Jean turned back from looking at the runner and back to George before looking at the papers. "I have no idea..."

But as she looked closely at the letters in the light from the movie projector, she saw the handwriting of her father most the envelopes that held letters. Letters that she hadn't received in almost two months.

She also noticed that some of the mail looked like it had been opened and taped shut.

George was looking over her shoulder as she opened the first couple, relieved that her family had been writing her.

She opened a few of the letters, and they were normal letters, her dad talking about work, her grandfather asking about how things were with her, and her grandmother gossiping about the other old ladies in town.

Jean smiled as she sifted through the letters, but then became concerned as her family's tone got serious and they kept asking in letters if everything was alright and that they hadn't heard from her in a while.

Then her heart sank as she saw a letter addressed from her grandmother. Her grandmother never addressed letters. She would always write a note inside, but her dad always addressed them.

Opening the letter, one that wasn't already opened, she held her breath as she read the awful words on the page.

Tears began to fill her eyes as her chest began to shake.

 _My Dear Jean,_

 _We still don't know if you are getting our letters as we haven't heard from you, but we can only hope that you get this. Your father was in an accident. He was taking an extra night shift and it was raining. He was hit by another car on Fuller St. They took him to the hospital, but they weren't able to help him. Jean, your father passed just after the accident-_

Jean couldn't read anymore of the letter. Frantically moving through the letters, she dropped a few on the ground, making noise as a few other nearby soldiers shushed at her.

Ignoring them completely, Jean went on to find 3 more letters from her grandparents and 2 letters from a local attorney from her town.

Opening up one, she tried to look through the jargon in front of her and realized that they had sent a summarized version of her father's will. More tears came to her eyes as Jean began to panic.

Ripping the next one open, she let out a sob as she saw that her father had passed almost 3 weeks ago. The service had been the day that she left the states.

"No, this isn't right..." Jean mumbled to herself as she tried to look through more letters, hoping to find that this was all a gag.

"Hey there Sunshine," George started. "What happened?"

Looking at her hands and up to George, she couldn't make the words come out.

George slowly reached over to the letter in her hands and looked over a few lines.

A large frown plastered on his face as he looked from the letter to Jean.

"Okay, let's get you outta here, yeah?" he coaxed.

Jean mumbled something incoherent as she nodded, trying to grab all of the letters but dropping even more in her attempt in the dark room with blurry vision.

George grabbed the majority of the letters and placed them in a stack into his friend's hands.

"Alright, hun, let's go, okay?"

Getting up with George guiding her, Jean sniffled as she followed him out the back door, not looking at her surroundings or anyone that might have seen her.

Out in the evening, the sun was just setting. George, not knowing what to do or say, saw a few men from Easy company just down the street and tried to motion to them to come over.

Seeing George make ridiculous hand movements trying to be subtle, Jean saw a few men coming over. Malarkey, Muck, Penkala, and Roe were all starting to come over the the two.

"George," Jean started, "I... I..." She lost her words, not knowing what to say.

"Hey, it'll be alright, Sunshine, okay?" George said, hoping that it would somehow help.

Jean just silently nodded and began to walk away from the approaching men and toward town.

"Hey, Sunshine! Lutz! What are you two doing? We thought you ditched us for the damn movie again." Malarky laughed, not having seen Jean's face yet.

Muck, seeing George's solemn face and Jean trying to rub away her tears smacked Don in the arm and pointed to Jean.

"Jean." Roe began. " You alright, cherie?"

Jean, seeing as she wouldn't be able to leave without acknowledging the men, sniffed back her tears as much as she could before raising her head to speak.

"Hi guys." At that, she met her friends eyes and stumbled before continuing. "Um, I just uh... My father died."

Her words stopped after that, not able to say more.

Looking down again, Jean began to shuffle the letters in her hands.

"Jesus, Sunshine..." Penkala remarked, then went silent.

Walking forward immediately, Roe came in and grabbed her shoulders, turning them toward her and wrapped his arms around her.

At the contact of her friend, and realizing that this was all happening, she broke down.

As her sobs wracked her body, Gene didn't let go. He just whispered in French in her ear. His voice giving her a calming sensation as her knees felt like they would give way.

The other men whispered to George, asking all that he knew, and he explained that it seemed like there was a large backlog of her letters. None of them knew what to make of it.

As Jean began to calm down, she pulled back from Gene. "I got snot all over you." she said softly. "Sorry."

Gene just smiled softly and shook his head. "Nothing I can't handle, cherie."

She nodded at him and looked at the stack of letters in her hands. The reminder that she had now lost both parents. She wouldn't be able to say goodbye to her father. Hear him laugh again, or tell her stories about her mother. It was all gone.

The men began to straighten up and Jean saw that Winters was approaching their awkward group.

As the silent group saluted their commanding officer, he noticed Jean's tear stained face.

"Men," he welcomed. "Jean, what's happened?"

Jean looked at the ground, not wanting her CO to see her in such a weak state.

"Jean's father died, sir." George filled in quietly. "She just found out."

Winter nodded. "Are those your letters, Jean?" trying to get the woman to speak to him.

Jean nodded, "Yes, sir."

"A runner came into the movie and dropped the stack in her lap before high-tailing out. Said Sobel's name and something or other, said there were lost, but now they're not. Something like that." George said to Winters while still watching Jean.

Winters looked sharply at George. "You said it was a runner? Who handed her everything?"

George looked up in surprise at Winters quick questions. "Yes, sir. Looked like one of the new guys, uh, Swanson, Swanberg, something like that I think."

Winters nodded and turned back to Jean.

"Jean, with the death of a family member, soldiers get 3 days of bereavement where they can take the time to go home and see their family." Winters started. "But being abroad, you wouldn't make it home and back in less than a week at least. I don't know if you'll be able to go home. I'm truly sorry, Jean."

Jean nodded, knowing the policy as one of the other privates in E had lost a grandfather when they were still stationed at Toccoa.

"I understand, sir." Jean said in a monotoned voice.

"But since we can't send you home for the funeral, you can take your break off of any duties and all training for the next week." Winters offered.

"The funeral already happened anyway." Jean said in defeat. "It was two weeks ago."

Winters brow and the other men's faces turned to confusion. Looking at George for answers as Jean had gone quiet.

Jean looked up to see the faces of 5 confused soldiers in front of her. As George tried to start, Jean cut in.

"The letters are all old. He died 3 weeks ago and the funeral already happened." Jean said with as much strength as she could, trying to remember the letters she had read without falling apart. "He died just a week before we left. His funeral was the day we took off to come to England."

Silence fell around the men, all realizing what that meant.

"Wait, so if you'd have gotten the letters on time, you could've gone home at least for the funeral and caught the next ship out." Malarkey exclaimed.

George hit Malarkey on the arm and leaned in, "No shit, idiot."

Looking at Jean, Malarkey realized that she did in fact already realize this. The fact that she could've made it and seen her family, and grieve with them did not escape her. But it was because she hadn't been receiving any letters that meant she missed everything.

Winters walked to Jean and took a soft hold of her forearm. "I'm very sorry for your loss Jean. I'll do my best to figure this out."

With that, Winters nodded at the rest of the men and walked to the officers barracks with a quick step and a small scowl on his face.

Muck looked to Penkala who shrugged, not knowing what their CO was going to "figure out."

As George started to talk, Jean cut him off. "George, I'm just gonna go home"

Not wanting to push her, but not fully understanding what she meant, George's eyes scrunched up and his brow furrowed.

"I mean home to Mr. Morgan's." Jean clarified.

"Oh, right." George said, "Okay, well, we can all walk with ya, Jean."

"No!" Jean said quickly. "I just don't-I'm fine. I just need my own time. Please"

The 5 remaining men nodded. Gene looking into her eyes, trying to make sure that she was okay to be on her own.

As he looked at her, Jean felt he was searching for her soul, but just nodded curtly to them and left without any more questions or comments.

Hearing the men begin to talk amongst themselves in hushed tones as she marched away, Jean felt her resolve crumbling. As she got closer to her billeted house, she felt herself wanting to collapse. She gained speed as she got closer, and once she got in the front door, she bolted up to her room. Upon entering, she closed the door and fell beside it, dropping the letters and losing her tears again.

Slipping in and out of consciousness, Jean crawled to her bed, grabbing as many letters as she could with her. As she laid in bed, she tried to read the letters in their entirely. Cementing her father's last words to her in her head, knowing that she could never see him again. As the words blurred together, Jean slowly fell asleep, surrounded by papers and engulfed in a stream of tears and defeat.

Author's Note: So sorry for the long delay! I hate when life gets in the way of writing. Special thanks to all that reviewed :) It really gives me the confidence and push to keep going. I know that this was a darker chapter, but it will all help shape Jean to the person she needs to be going forward. Hope you enjoyed it!


	10. Chapter 10

**A very special thank you to HP-LotR-SW-HG, chamiesgirl, bubblegum and guest for your reviews :) I also just want to note that not all of my timelines and the show's timeline will line up. I have changed things a bit and a few backstories. In no way do I mean any disrespect to the real soldiers, or the show. I own nothing but my own characters. Hope you enjoy the next chapter!**

Jean slept restlessly though the night. Never fully waking, but her body managed to toss and turn all night. Plagued by guilt in her nightmares. Scenarios that if she wasn't here, if she was somehow home, her father would be alright. If she had stayed home and found a local job in town instead of joining the Airborne, he might not have had the need to work extra shifts. If she had just been a normal woman and let men fight, not her, her father would be alive.

When she woke up, the sun had just crossed the horizon. Not wanting to face more grim dreams, she decided to get up.

Staying in the same clothes she had been in when she fell asleep, she slipped on her boots, pulled on her jacket, and went straight downstairs and through the front door quietly.

Wandering through the streets of Albourne in the early morning, Jean barely saw anything around her. She passed the few people that were already up and about in town, like the milkman who was delivering on the streets, and the few other working people, already busy with their days.

Jean didn't realize where she was going until she was almost there. The shooting range.

The range was a few miles off of base, so she was surprised that so much time had passed since she left the house.

Walking up to the vacant field, Jean looked at the frost on the grass across the large area.

She had heard a few townspeople, including Mr. Morgan talk about how it was strange that it hadn't snowed yet. It was mid-November, and they were used to getting at least one good snow by now. But all it had done so far was get cold enough for a frost in the morning.

Smiling softly to herself as she climbed onto the wood fence that surrounded the range, Jean remembered her father's obsession with the first snow of the winter.

He always said that he could feel when it would snow for the first time. And to his credit, he was never wrong.

Jean recalled a time when she must've been about 9. It was her first winter without her mother, and her father had been doing his best to keep Jean's life as normal and exciting as possible without letting the grief overwhelm them.

 _It must've been close to 2 in the morning, and Jean's father had come into her room and woke Jean up. Groggy and somewhat cranky for being woken up, Jean looked at her father in a daze._

 _"What're you doing, daddy?" Jean asked sleepily, trying to lay back in her warm bed._

 _"Come on, dear." He ushered, pulling her out of bed and wrapping her in a blanket and slippers. "We've got to get outside. It's coming."_

 _Jean just nodded, following her father to the main entrance, shivering and wrapping her blanket around her tighter as the door swung open._

 _"Come on, Jean dear, it's coming, you don't want to miss it." He said, a huge goofy smile on his face._

 _Jean, awakened from the harsh wind outside, just continued out the door and closed it behind her. "Daddy, what's coming? Why are we out here?"_

 _Grabbing her hand, he led her to the sidewalk and kneeled on the ground to reach her height. Being a tall man, he still had to hunch as his eyes were next to hers and he motioned her to look up._

 _"Magic, Jean." he whispered. "The first snow is magic."_

 _And no more then 10 seconds later, as the two stared up into the dark, starless sky, the first snow of the season began._

 _Smiling down to his daughter, he saw the wonder and amazement in her face as she watched the flakes dance down on to her face and blanket._

 _"The first snow is magic, Jean, it means that anyone that you miss who is gone -they are able to touch you. The snow is their fingers touching you and showering you in kisses. They are able to show their love for you."_

 _Looking from the sky to her father, she asked quickly, "Is it mama kissing us?"_

 _Tears had begun to rise in his eyes, "Yes, love, it's mama. It's mama kissing us."_

 _"Why are her kisses so cold though, daddy?" Jean asked, looking back to the sky and closing her eyes as she let the cold snow fall onto her face._

 _"It's because she wants to make sure that you feel it." He said, "The kisses... The kisses are cold because she knows that if it were warm, you might not feel it since it's too cold out. And she wants you to see her kisses as they find you."_

 _Jean nodded, taking her father's words in and smiling up. Whispering to the sky, with eyes still closed, "I love you too, mama. Daddy and I miss you a lot."_

 _They had stayed outside until Jean began to sniffle, triggering her father to get her back inside to the warmth._

After that night, her and her father would go outside whenever he felt the snow coming. Jean never felt it, always just trusting her father's intuition.

Sitting on the fence, Jean looked at the frost and tried to let her mind become completely blank to stop the thoughts running in her head. Memories were good, but they were too painful. It wasn't real yet that he was gone. It couldn't be real. She needed a bit more time.

As the sun continued to rise behind the clouds, Jean could feel the cold moving in and began to see her breath as she exhaled.

Listening to the wind sing across the field, Jean closed her eyes and turned her head toward the sky. As she did this, an animal in the distance made a noise.

"That was a barn own." A voice said from behind Jean, startling her as she snapped her head to the side. "I heard that they make screeches instead of hooting like most other owls."

Jean nodded and greeted him, "Lieutenant Speirs."

"Private Murphy." He walked up to the fence. Jean silently cursing him as she hadn't even heard him approach. "Are you here for shooting practice?" He asked.

Jean looked at the field, "No sir, just couldn't sleep."

Staying silent, Speirs bent over and stepped through the wood fence, Jean noticing the rifle on his shoulder. "Mind if I shoot?"

Jean shook her head as the CO of Dog made his way to the line of the field a few hundred yards from the targets.

For the next 30 minutes or so, she watched the man a few years in front of her shoot with deadly precision at the targets. Annihilating most of them with shots to the center with deep breathes, patience, and excellent accuracy.

He changed positions from standing, to on one knee, to scoping from his belly on the ground and back up multiple times. All in his own time, with no rush. As he moved fluidly, Jean saw the grace that he had and knew that he was a good leader for his company. The stark difference between him and Sobel was shocking.

Whereas Sobel demanded respect with his words and challenges of his mind tricks, Speirs would just walk into a room and everyone in it seemed to be in awe of him. Or scared, Jean wasn't very sure what other people felt let alone herself when he walked into a room, but from what she sees on the other mens faces, there was always a mix of fear and respect.

But as she watched him hit two more bullseyes on a closer target, she knew that part of what she felt was fear. Not fear of the man, but fear of what she felt about him.

Looking back to the sky, Jean noticed that more clouds had rolled in and that the temperature seemed to have dropped. Rubbing her hands together and then realizing that her pockets were much warmer, she shoved them into her sides.

Speirs had gotten up and was making his way to Jean on the fence.

Walking up, he paused at the fence, leaning against it. First looking at Jean and then to the sky that she was looking at before looking to the now vacant field.

Jean continued to sit and Speirs stood for a few minutes in silent, just enjoying each others company without feeling the need to speak. Jean felt more at ease now than she did for the past 12 hours. His presence provided a relief and so did his lack of prying questions.

Looking over to the man next to her, she spoke.

"Looks like it's going to snow." she said softly.

Looking back to the sky, Speirs frowned a bit. "Really? It's cold enough, but it's been colder here already without any snow."

"Yeah," Jean replied, "But it just feels like it's going to snow, doesn't it?"

Not replying, he just looked to Jean and nodded.

"My father, he-" Jean started, and caught herself as her voice cracked. "He loved the snow. Said it was magical. Especially the first snow."

Speirs, looking at her with an intensity as if he was trying to look into her soul through her eyes nodded slowly, as if agreeing.

Breaking eye contact, Jean took her hands out of her pockets and looked down at her hands that were beginning to turn red and rubbed them together.

As she did so, her company walked up to her and handed her a pair of leather gloves.

"Here, looks like you need them more than me." Speirs stated. "You fingers look like their about to fall off."

Smiling, Jean shook her head, "Oh, no thank you, I'll head back soon."

"Even so," he cut her off, "It's at least an hour walk back to town and you'll need something more than jacket pockets."

He put the gloves over her hands, and let go, not letting her take time to refuse without letting them fall to the ground.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

As she slipped her hands into the soft leather, she sighed softly. The gloves felt great. They were still warm, but she felt the need to frown at him since she saw a smug smile on his face.

"Any time," he almost whispered.

As the looked at each other, Jean felt something hit her nose. Then her cheek. Breaking eye contact, she looked up to the sky.

It was snowing.

Beginning to feel tears begin to well up, she closed her eyes and smiled up at the sky, spreading her arms out letting as many snow flakes that could fall on her as possible.

Completely forgetting the man next to her, she sighed as a few tears escaped the sides of her eyes.

Speirs looked at the woman before him and smiled, seeing her lose herself in whatever was in her head completely. Then quickly putting on his mask that he has let slip down, he decided it was time for him to leave.

"You father was right," he said loud enough to break her spell as she looked at him in surprise, seeing his stoic face. "The snow does magical things."

Jean looked at him and he bent through the fence and began to make his way back to the town.

"Stay warm, Jean." he said as he walked away.

Jean continued to stare at the lieutenant as he walked away, leaving her to smile and cry as the snow continued to fall on her.

Getting off the fence after a few more minutes of enjoying the weather, Jean looked back at the field and up a final time before taking off to head back to the city center. As the snow melted with each kiss on her face, she whispered, "I love you too, dad."

* * *

It took Jean just under an hour to wander back to town. She took her time, slushing through the snow that was already starting to accumulate on the ground.

As she walked up to Mr. Morgan's house, she saw a few sets of footprints that had already gone up and down the walkway to the front door.

Frowning, she continued and opened the door, only to be met by 3 sets of faces. Mr. Morgan, George, and Bill all in the front room.

Sighing, she slipped off the leather gloves that weren't hers and quickly shoved them to her jacket pockets. Then began to untie her boots, not wanting to track the mud up the stairs.

As she was done, she straightened up and looked at the 3 men with worried faces in front of her.

"Dearie, we didn't know where you- and I just heard about... I'm so sorry dear." Mr. Morgan said with a crestfallen face and tears beginning to fill his eyes.

Jean tried to smile at the older man, but she found herself starting to well up too.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't sleep and went for a walk." Jean started as she put on a mask again, not letting herself cry.

"Sunshine, it's almost lunchtime, how long of a walk did you take?" Bill asked roughly, a small crack in his voice as he tried to scold her.

"Bill, I was walking. I just needed time to think." She said.

Scowling at her and then sighing, Bill nodded and then quickly walked toward her and gave her a tight hug.

"I'm sorry about your father. " He whispered in her ear as he held her still. "Sunshine, we were worried about ya, that's all. We heard last night about your pops and tried to find you this morning and had no idea where you were."

He let her go but held on to her shoulders and looked at her in the eyes. "No disappearing on us, okay?"

Jean nodded, tears starting to fall. Bill quickly used his thumb and wiped a few tears away before they fell. Then he took her chin and held it up as they continued eye contact. He nodded at her and she nodded back, knowing he was trying to help her be strong. Ever since meeting him, Bill had helped her fight any weakness that she thought she had, including helping her hide emotions, especially when Sobel would try to get her down.

As he stepped back, George stepped a bit closer. "How you doing, Sunshine?"

She shrugged and said "I'm just tired. I think I'll go and sleep for a bit." She looked at Mr. Morgan and he looked at her and nodded.

"Yes, yes, you get all the rest you need, dear." Mr. Morgan said, beginning to usher her upstairs, past George and Bill. "And when you're done, I'll a nice cuppa and some lunch for you, alright?"

Jean nodded and yawned, feeling the exhaustion from the last day sink in as she started up the stairs. Pausing, she quickly went back and grabbed Bill and George and hugged them both with one arm. "Thank you. I love you guys." she said in the ears.

They each hugged her back and slowly let her go, saying they both loved her too.

"Once you want some company, you just let us know, Sunshine, okay?" Bill asked.

Jean smiled and nodded and yawned again. George pushed her back up the stairs and she went up straight to her room. This time, taking the time to change out of her uniform and to a plain shirt and pair of extra PT shorts. Pulling the blankets up, she looked at the pile of letters spread from the bed to the floor and left them. She would see if she had the strength to go through them later. For now, she just wanted to sleep.

In just a few minutes, Jean was fully asleep. As she slept, she just had one dream. It wasn't about guilt, or worry that she let her father down. In her dream, she was 9 years old, standing outside in the middle of the night with her father as they laughed and let the snow fall on them until they got too cold.


	11. Chapter 11

Jean had spent the rest of her Saturday in bed until Mr. Morgan had brought up a bowl of soup and bread to her room, insisting that she eat something. He even sat in there and watched her eat until she had eaten enough for him to approve of. He had sat with her and just talked of his wife and ridiculous stories that had no meanings, but were nice to listen too.

She had also sorted and read through all of the letters that she had. Finding the last one that her father had written, the letters from her grandparents sick with worry, the letters from the lawyer-one with a will and one with paperwork that she needed to sign and send back. As the proprietor of her father's estate, which wasn't much, but was what her grandparents would rely on now to survive, she needed to sign over a few things to her grandfather so they could live off of money her father had saved and what she was able to send back every month.

Trying to get past all of the legal issues and jargon, she signed what she thought she needed and re-read her family's letters.

She had cried many times the last two days, but now, reading over them for what felt like the 20th time, she started to be able to read her father's handwriting without blaming herself, or breaking down completely.

Jean knew that he loved her, and it was apparent in every letter how proud he was of her and what she was doing. He wouldn't have wanted her to stop. He always said she was a fighter, and she wasn't going to let him down now.

Sunday morning came, and she stuck her father's last letter in her pants pocket as she put on a new set of clothes. Wanting to keep something of him with her, this was her best option for now.

She took the paperwork that she had signed and was headed to the mail room that the 506th had created from and old building on the main street near the officer's barracks.

Telling Mr. Morgan where she was headed, she put on her jacket and boots and left the house.

Walking briskly as she set out, trying to stay warm in the cool morning air, Jean passed a few men from Easy that weren't struggling to recover from a night out and nodded as they gave her morose looks.

She hated that. She wasn't broken. She was still Jean. They could at least smile at her. Just staring at her like she was going to breakdown made her feel worse.

As she scowled at the ground, she walked to the mailroom, and waited for the private behind the counter to see her.

After scribbling something on a large box, he noticed his company and smiled and cheerily said, "Good morning!"

Jean was happy that at least since he didn't know her he didn't treat her like a glass doll.

"Yes I need these sent out as soon as you can." Jean stated.

"Um yes, and I just need your-"

"Murphy, Jean. Here's my enlisted card," handing the private a card with all of her info.

Looking it over, he grabbed a paper and wrote a few things down. Nodding, "Okay, I can get this out first thing tomorrow morning. Should get to the states in about a week if you're lucky."

Knowing that that was about as fast as the regular mail would go, she nodded, "Thanks."

She left the building and then paused, not knowing where to go.

She didn't want to go back to Mr. Morgan's because he hadn't done anything but try and feed her since he learned about her father. While she appreciated countless tea and too many biscuits, her stomach would throw a fit if she ate too much more of his food.

Going down one of the main streets, she saw a few Easy men walking toward the mess hall. "Hey, Roe!"

Seeing Gene turn his head at his name, he smiled easily, pausing for her to catch up to the small group.

"Hey, cherie. How are you?" He asked in his soft voice.

Jean just nodded and looked down before answering. "I'm fine. At least I will be."

Roe took the answer as good enough and nodded before walking with her to the rest of the group.

Malarkey, Leibgott, and Spina just looked at her.

"Well are we going in or not?" She asked impatiently. "I'm not the Mona Lisa, stop starting at me."

Snapping out of their haze, they all sheepishly smiled, seeing that Jean's quick mouth wasn't gone.

The group walked into the mess hall where breakfast was still being served. As the men grabbed plates of oatmeal and coffee, Jean just grabbed an apple and followed them to a table.

Sitting down, they all talked about stories of the bar last night, what stupid thing Sobel might do this week, and then they all quieted down and looked at Jean.

"So, Sunshine. Um, how's everything?" Malarkey tried to start. "I mean, we know your taking the week off, so what are you planning on doing?"

Jean frowned at Don. "What do you mean I'm 'taking the week off?'"

Looking at Roe, Malarkey responded, "Well, you know... Winters told you you'd have the week off to grieve and stuff, right?"

"He might've offered, but it's not an order." Jean said quickly. "The best thing for me to do right now is just keep training. If I take a week off, I'll get lazy and I'll be stuck by myself to wallow."

Leibgott answered before Malarkey could, "Yea but ain't that the point? You gotta grieve? Why'd you want to do PT and a bunch of drills when you should be grieving."

"Who says I'm not grieving now?" Jean snapped. The men looked at her with expressions she couldn't quite read. Either surprise or pity. And she didn't want pity. "I don't have to sit in my room and cry and think about all the good times to grieve, okay? He died almost a month ago. And I didn't know. So I'm grieving in my own way. And that's focusing on things that are still in my control."

Not sure if she wanted to get up and leave or stay, she was sidetracked by seeing Speirs in her line of sight. He was sitting with Winters, Nixon, and some other officer that must've been from another company. They were talking in hushed voices and then all of a sudden their whole table looked at her.

Looking over her shoulder to make sure they weren't looking at someone behind her, she looked back at the group of officers and frowned, seeing that all but Speirs had turned back to their conversation. He wasn't looking at her like he normally did. Normally, he had blank looks on his face at all times, minus the rare moments she'd see him smile or smirk at a joke or comment she would make. But this look was different. It was like he was confused.

She tried to mirror the look back since she was very confused as to why they would be talking about her. As she pondered it and turned back to her friends who has started a safer conversation up that didn't include Jean's father, she saw Speirs get up from the table quickly, nod at the other officers, and bee-line it for the exit.

Quickly forgetting the interaction, Jean consumed herself in the story that Leibgott was telling about a few characters from his home town.

The men laughed and Jean chuckled. It felt nice to have a sense of normalcy. While she was grieving on her own time and in her own way, she knew that she needed her friends now more than ever. So it was nice that they let her be and could joke around her without walking on eggshells.

As they finished up eating, the five split off into groups, Spina and Roe going to the med tent to check supplies for the upcoming training for non-medics that they would have to give Easy and Leibgott and Malarkey going to their billeted houses.

Not knowing where to go, Jean followed Spina and Roe and helped them inventory count and pack multiple kits for the training that would start the next day.

As they wrapped up, it was a few hours later and Jean was escorted home by Roe, who was stationed a few blocks past her house.

Roe nudged Jean as she began to step away, nodding at her. The small touch letting Jean know he was there for her if she needed it.

Walking up the drive, she got inside the house, said hello to Mr. Morgan, and went upstairs. Going to bathe and change to get ready to go out later to the mess hall where Leibgott said they were going to have a poker game later that day.

When she got into her room, she immediately saw a bouquet of white flowers on her desk. Looking behind her as if someone would come out and explain, she stepped to the flowers and picked them up. Leaning in and smiling at them, she saw a note fall.

 _I'm sorry for your loss. I wish I had words to say that would help. He sounded like an incredible man. -Ron_

Frowning down, she realized that 'Ron 'meant Speirs. The man that everyone said was made of stone. The man that she had talked with the previous day and hadn't had to talk about grief, because he hadn't known what had happened. The man who apparently sends flowers to people that lose their fathers.

Smiling at the gesture, Jean put the note down on the desk and picked up the flowers to get a better look. They were beautiful.

Putting the flowers with the note, Jean took her time bathing in the guest bathroom.

Looking at herself, she was glad to see that she didn't have a red puffy face from the past few days. Instead, she just looked tired. But since coming to Toccoa, she knew she was tired. That was just part of the deal.

As she dressed in some pants and a PT shirt, she made her way downstairs to see Mr. Morgan.

"Hello Mr. Morgan," Jean greeted.

"Oh, Jean dear, hello." He smiled up from his paper and petted his dog on the head. "Oh sit, sit. Have some tea or a biscuit."

Jean politely declined the biscuit offered but poured a small cup of tea. "Mr. Morgan, did a runner drop those flowers off?"

Mr. Morgan frowned. "Not a runner. Unless Lieutenants in the army now run errands for other men. No, it was a taller fellow, dark hair. Lieutenant Smith? No, that's not right..."

"Speirs." Jean said for him.

"Yes! That's it. Speirs. Polite young man. Said he wanted to give you those so I took them and put them in your room."

Jean nodded and sipped her tea. Mr. Morgan then went off on a story about how a Lieutenant doing something or other for him when he was a private in the First Waruntil Jean said that she was going to town and would see him later that night.

Putting on her jacket, she walked out the door and quickly put her hands to her pockets and found the gloves that Speirs had lent her. As much as she wanted to find him and thank him for the flowers and give him the gloves back, she figured one more day wouldn't hurt, especially since her hands were already cold. Jean took off to the center of town to the hall where the men would be starting their game.

* * *

Jean went back to training the next day, even with Winters protests that she didn't need to push herself. Using the PT and training as distractions, Jean was able to get through the next few weeks with little issue. Every now and again, she would re-read a few letters from her father, but the new letters coming in from her grandparents helped keep her sorrow at bay.

The only event that brought back emotions was the day that Winters had confronted Sobel about withholding Jean's letters. While Jean had suspected that Sobel had something to do with it, apparently, Dick had apparently figured out what had happened and tried to call Sobel out.

While Jean was grateful that he tried to stick up for her, Sobel ended up making it much worse by denying it, very loudly.

Jean had been outside with George, Bill, and Joe, when they saw Sobel storm out of the officers barracks, Winters hot on his heels.

"What I have or have not done with any of _MY_ company's mail is not of your concern. And you would do well to remember your place, Dick." Sobel all but yelled as he turned around to get into Winter's face.

"Sir, I disagree. Withholding or tampering with mail is a crime. Your company or not." Dick tried to say quietly, realizing that there was a small crowd.

Marching up to Winters and snarling in his face, "I did nothing wrong. You can try to prove it all you want but you'll find nothing."

At that, Sobel marched off, but made sure to glare at Jean as he walked by, ignoring hers and the other mens salutes.

Looking at Winters, his face was bright red, and she knew it wasn't from the cold. She had only seen him upset a few times, and this might be taking the cake. Nodding to him, trying to acknowledge her thanks without calling attention to the fact that they had heard every word or Dick's reprimand. He nodded back and went back to the officer's quarters.

Looking at her friends, she just said "I don't want to hear it. I know that he did something, but I don't need anyone to do anything else for me."

The just shrugged, knowing that this was just another reason they all had no respect for Sobel. Not only had he already "gotten them killed" in drills to many times to count, this was just icing on the cake.

A week later, the company got wind that Winters was Court Marshaled by Sobel. None of them could believe it.

What was worse as that Jean hadn't gotten wind of what the NCOs of Easy were doing in response until she thought it was too late.

But George let the cat out of the bag when Jean asked where Bill was since he owed her 2 dollars after losing a bet to her about who had a better dart shot at the mess hall Saturday night. Walking up to George, she asked where Bill was so she could get her winnings.

"Sunshine," George all but whispered. "You didn't hear?"

Jean looked at a few of the other men at the mess table they were sitting at and shook her head as she sat down to hear George better.

"Bill, Lip, and a few other NCOs are... well, they're giving up their orders to Sink now since Sobel gave Winters the court martial."

"What?!" Jean almost yelled.

"Jesus, keep your voice down!" George said, grabbing her and pulling her all the way back down to the seat.

"They could be shot for that. That's mutiny!" Jean said to the group. But as she looked around, they either nodded or shrugged their shoulders.

"Sunshine, if we did it, we'd be done for. But the NCOs might stand a chance. They all are doing it together, so it's our last hope."

Jean was stunned and just sat there, not even nodding to George.

How could they do that? I mean, Sobel was a prick and had done horrible things, but to be shot over not wanting him as your leader?

But as she continued to think, she knew that it was almost guaranteed that they would get into some kind of trouble in the war if Sobel was on the field with the men. Maybe it was the right thing to do? But what if they were found for treason and shot?

Jean couldn't stand it, so she got up and walked to the training grounds, hoping to clear her head. But as she walked over, she saw Bill and immediately ran over.

"Hey Sunshine." Bill said, keeping his eyes off of hers.

"Bill Guanere, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Jean said, tempted to slap the man.

"We didn't do nothing that didn't need to be done. We had to get him out, and you know it." Bill answered, finally looking her in the eye. "He's been shit to you and he'd lead us to our deaths if he stayed."

"Well, yes I mean, he's awful, but what if you got shot, Bill?" Jean asked.

"Ain't nobody getting shot today, Sunshine. We got off easy." Bill said, looking around, seeing a few more men coming over to ask what happened.

As the men filed around, Jean walked off, terrified that it had happened, but hopeful that Sink would remove Sobel since he didn't punish the NCOs too much.

* * *

As the day wore on, Jean had ended up sitting with a bunch of the men in the mess hall that was going to show a movie that night. They all sat in relative silence, minus a few card games here and there. But then, they saw Lip walk in to the hall and look around. Once he saw the table, he sat down. No one could read his face.

Then, he looked up. "Well, looks like Christmas came early this year, boys."

They all began to smile. "So what, your plan worked?" George asked quickly.

"Yeah, they say that Sobel's getting transferred out of Easy to go work on some Non-combat training site as an instructor. We'll get a new CO, but all that matters is that Sobel ain't coming back to Easy."

There were a few hoots and hollers, but the men soon quieted down, not wanting to bring all of the halls attention to them celebrating the loss of their CO.

Jean smiled at the men, all the happiest she had seen them in a while. Not only was it a relief to not be at constant odds with a CO, but she knew that Easy's safety was now in much better hands. No matter who took over the company, anyone would be better than Sobel.

 **Author's Note: Thank you to reviewers and the feedback that I got for the last couple chapters. These changing timelines are also just to fit with my story. I know that the Court Marshall and transfer were much closer to the jump, but changed it up a bit to get rid of Sobel earlier. Next up will be Christmas and New Years. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	12. Chapter 12

The boys were planning to go out to one of the local bars on Christmas eve and had been trying to convince Jean to come with for at least a week.

"Oh come on, Sunshine!" Bill said as they walked from the mess hall to the street after dinner. "All the girls in the bars never dance cause their too busy with the officers."

Jean rolled her eyes. "Yes, Bill, that is the way to convince me to go. I love being second choice."

"What Gonorrhea means, Sunshine, is that you're the best dame in the country, and we would love to be graced with your presence." Toye said cheekily, smiling at Jean as Bill hit him in the arm.

Jean laughed, "Well, when you put it that way..."

"Yeah, Jean?!" George said. "You'l go?"

Jean nodded and chuckled as the men cheered.

"Thank god," Bill said. "If I had to hear Malarkey mope one more time about not having a dance partner, I was gonna shoot him."

* * *

As Jean fixed her hair in the mirror, she smiled.

She hadn't been this happy in a while. Her friends were meeting her at the main intersection in town for a night out. And Sobel was gone. Even though she received fewer letters from her family now, she still got regular mail and knew that they got her correspondence.

She had a weight in her chest that she felt every day from the loss of her father, but she got stronger each day so the weight was more bearable.

Smoothing her hands over her dress greens, she shrugged at the woman in the mirror. It would do.

Jean never like her hair as it was always thick an unruly, so she was sure by the end of the night, her hair wouldn't be smooth anymore. But for now, it looked as good as it would ever get.

Walking downstairs, she was greeted by Mr. Morgan who smiled warmly at her.

"Have a good night, Jean. I won't wait up," he said, winking at her as he handed over her jacket.

She thanked him and wished him a goodnight as she walked out of the door.

She got to the intersection where a few of the guys were already waiting. "Heya, Sunshine!" Malarkey greeted.

"Hi guys," Jean said, "Fancy seeing you here."

As the men turned to head to the main bar on the side of town, George hooked his arm around Jean's and pulled her close. "So Sunshine, you gonna kiss any of us great guys under the mistletoe this fine evening?"

Jean chuckled and looked at George and just shook her head as they both laughed.

They walked arm in arm to the bar and once they got there Jean was met with an onslaught of smoke and the smell of beer and sweat.

"Looks like we got some catching up to do!" George yelled in her ear as he took off to the bar.

Trying to find familiar faces in the crowd, Jean saw Winters and Nixon at a table and nodded to them when they raised their glasses to her. As she turned to look for anyone she could find a seat with she saw Toye and Bill sitting alone in a corner with a few extra chairs.

Making her way over, she sat down and stole Bill's drink and took a sip smiling cheekily as she did so.

Immediately she was met with an awful taste and had to do her best to not spit it out on Bill's smug face.

"Uh! That is awful!" she said, wiping her mouth as she shoved the glass back at Bill.

Bill took the glass and finished the drink in one gulp. "That's gin, Sunshine."

Bill got up to get himself and Jean a drink and she and Toye settled into a conversation, being joined by Christensen, Randleman, and Shifty.

As Jean finished her first drink, she was asked to dance by Shifty while the other guys whistled at catcalled as she got up. Giving a very un-ladylike gesture to the table, they laughed and settled down as the pair made their way to the somewhat busy dance floor.

The two barley talked as a fast song came on and they hopped to the music. As usual when Jean came out, at the end of each song, a new member of Easy would come and dance with her. After dancing with almost a dozen of her friends, she told Christensen that she needed a break so they took off to the bar and she got a beer that she sipped. Christensen got his drink and bee-lined to an attractive young local girl that for the second was alone. Jean grinned into her beer and shook her head.

As she looked out at the room, she saw a few of the Easy men dancing with girls, a group of the men circled around a table playing cards, and a few others playing darts.

What she thought would be a sad Christmas being away from her family and without her father was actually a great night being surrounded by a new family.

As she sipped the stale beer, she felt someone come stand beside her at the bar.

Looking out the corner of her eye, she saw Speirs standing to her right. He stood looking over the bar waiting for a drink.

Turning back to the room, Jean scolded herself. As much as she liked Speirs' company, his compassion for her when her dad died, and almost everything else about him for that matter, she couldn't have a school girl crush on a superior officer. She needed to focus on training and not getting kicked out.

But as she frowned at herself, she immediately let all those thoughts float away when she heard his voice in her ear.

"Looking for any one in particular?"

Jean blushed but hoped that in the heat of the room her cheeks were already red. But looking over at him and seeing the side of his mouth smirk, she knew that he saw her reaction.

"No, just enjoying the room." Jean said as she took a drink.

Speirs nodded and paid the bartender as he took his drink. Turning his body to mirror Jean, they both looked out at the dance floor and the tables around it.

"So do you still not dance to slow dances?" he asked quietly.

Jean kept her eyes forward. "Only on special occasions."

"Hmm, so... Is Christmas a special occasion?"

"It depends on who's asking me to dance." Jean responded, quickly glancing at the man next her her who was now turned fully toward her.

"Well, in that case... I woul-"

"Sunshine! I found you!" George yelled as he burst into her sight right before her. "We were wondering where you were. You gotta come settle the bet between Leibgott and Malarkey!"

Jean found herself nodding to George and he immediately dragged her from the bar. As she looked back to the bar, she made eye contact with Speirs. He was no longer smirking, and instead wore a look that Jean couldn't read. If she didn't know any better she would think he was mad. But she could've sworn he was about to ask her to dance so she didn't know why he would be mad.

Mouthing "I'm sorry" to him, she lost his gaze as she was tugged through the crowd by George until they were at the table she had started the night at that and was now considerably more full.

"Okay, Sunshine," George started, still completely oblivious to the fact that he had literally pulled her out of a conversation. "Malarkey says that you could beat Muck in an arm wrestle and Joe says no way."

Jean just stared at George.

"So come on! You've gotta beat him. I put 2 packs and a round of drinks on it." George said all while keeping his smile plastered to his face.

Jean paused for a moment to realize that all the men were waiting on her. As she started to speak and was going to decline, Bill interrupted.

"Ya see boys, told you she couldn't do it!" he yelled across the table making eye contact with Jean and not breaking it.

In an instant, Jean took Bill's smug smile and pushed her way toward Muck who was seated in Bill. "You're on."

The table cheered and more men began making bets. Odds were pretty even among the betting men, but as Jean sat there getting a motivational speech from George and how she was gonna beat Muck, she wondered what she had gotten herself into.

Grabbing Mucks right hand, the two smiled at each other and then Bill's hand slammed on the table initiating the battle.

Muck went for the kill right away and Jean's hand swung dangerously low to the table. It took about 20 hard fought seconds, but Jean eventually held on and made it even again with their hands standing on end.

"Sunshine, you're wearing him down!" Malarkey encouraged.

Jean saw Muck take a deep breath and took her chance. She pushed as hard as she could and got his wrist just above the table. As the men cheered on Jean and yelled at Muck to win, she knew that she was almost out of gas. So she began to bounce her arm and within a few seconds, Muck gave in and his arm hit the wood table.

Jean smiled as she and Muck shook hands and various items were given to their new owners and Leibgott went off to buy a round for the table.

"Nice job, Sunshine." Bill winked as Toye frowned and handed him a pack of cigarettes. "Never doubted ya for a minute."

"But you bet against me..." Jean said, "You told them you knew I wouldn't do it."

"Ah, that was just to sit your ass down. You liked you could use a little fire in you before you sat down."

"Bill Guarnere, you sir, are a trickster." Jean said as she laughed and declined a drink from Leibgott as he handed them out.

"That ain't the only thing the ladies call me, Sunshine." he said as Jean rolled her eyes.

Looking at her friends at the table, she couldn't hide a yawn. "What is this? Our victor needs rest?" Malarkey joked.

Jean nodded, "Apparently so."

"Well, you can't rest just yet, you haven't saved a dance for me yet." George said as he pulled her up from the seat and to the dance floor.

The song wasn't very fast, so George and Jean just swayed a bit, knowing that she was tired and he might not be able to stand up if he moved too much.

"Sorry about dragging you away from Sparky there before." George said softly.

Jean frowned at him, "Why? We weren't sharing any state secrets. I was just talking. You know sometimes I just talk to people. Like what we're doing now. An-"

"Yeah yeah, you talk. Like you're doing now." George smiled at her. "I'm just saying it looked like I had interrupted something."

Jean stayed quiet.

They finished their song and Jean yawned again. "Jeez, maybe we should take you home. This night was just too exciting for you." George laughed.

"Yea, I think I might call it a night," Jean said. "I was gonna help Mr. Morgan prepare a Christmas day tea for some of his neighbors in the morning and I don't think he'd like it if I slept through it."

Jean went back to the table with George and said goodnight to the guys. None of them were leaving yet but they tried to tell her that one of them would go with her so she didn't need to walk alone. She insisted that they stayed and enjoyed the rest of the night though and started to walk through the room to the bar.

Looking around the bar, Jean had hoped to see a certain lieutenant, but had no luck.

Opening the door, the cool breeze of the night wrapped around her and she shoved her hands into her pockets and got out the yet-to-be-returned gloves and put them on as she began down the street.

"I never had the chance to ask you." A familiar voice sounded in the wind stopping her. Turning around, Jean saw Speirs in his coat, standing my the side entrance of the bar.

Jean began to walk back. "Ask me what?"

As the two made their way closer to each other, Jean felt a pull like a magnet to the man now in front of her. Looking up at him through her lashes, she fidgeted and played with some frayed string on the left glove.

"To dance." He said. "So, on this special occasion of Christmas Eve, will you grant me the honor of a dance?"

Extending his hand, he waited for Jean's answer.

Jean blushed and nodded as she put her hands in her coat pockets to get the gloves off, "I'd like that very much."

Letting him take her hand and guide her in a dance, they could hear a soft song coming from the bar.

They swayed back and forth, his hand wrapping around her as she shifted to rest her head in the crook of his neck.

Jean wasn't sure if it was because she was tired, didn't care, or simply wanted to be held by him that she let herself enjoy the moment. She knew that it couldn't turn in to anything, but she didn't care. She hadn't felt like this with anyone before at home or with any of the other men that she saw every day. From the butterflies each time they made eye contact, to catching herself think of him in random parts of the day, he was special.

As the song came to a quiet, another song began that was much faster, but Ron didn't pull away. Knowing that she could be sent back to the states and kicked out of the airborne if anyone were to see, she slowly picked her head off of his chest and looked at him as their hands entwined.

She smiled softly up at him and he returned it with one of his own.

"I'm glad this was a special occasion," he said as they stopped swaying and just stood in each others arms.

"Me too," Jean agreed as they stood still, listening to the laughter of the men in the bar accompanied by the music and the wind.

Still smiling since she couldn't take the smile off of her face, Jean looked at Ron again. "Ron- er, Lieut-"

"Jean. You can call me Ron." he said seeing her struggle with what to say.

They smiled once more and then Ron began to lean down. As Jean closed her eyes, she could feel his lips just ghost across her own as a loud bang from the bar door ripped open and George stumbled out looking at the two.

"Um, uh..." he stuttered. "I was just looking for Jean, um. And there she is..."

At that, Jean immediately let go of Ron and stepped away and stared at the ground and shoved her hands in the gloves.

Ron looked at George before turning back to Jean and said, "Have a good night, Jean." He said softly before beginning to walk past her. Stopping and leaning in to her one last time. "Merry Christmas."

Jean smiled sadly at him and whispered "Merry Christmas, Ron."

He took off into the night and Jean turned back to George who was no longer at a loss for words and had a huge grin on his face.

"Did I interrupt something this time?" He asked with a sly smile.

Jean blushed and wagged her finger at him. "You, George Lutz, have the worst timing in the world."

"Uh huh," He laughed. "I was just being a gentleman and making sure that we were getting home alright."

"If I had gone home, I'd already be there by now." Jean stated walking over to him since his balance seemed to be a bit off.

"Yes, but that was _if_ you had gone home. Which _clearly_ you didn't." He said as they clasped arms and began to walk to George's house, knowing that he truly needed the help home. "But I also got kicked out of the bar for the night..."

Jean just shook her head and laughed, "Of course you did."

She was almost not able to get the smile off of her face since she couldn't help remember the last 10 minutes in detail.

"Let's get you home George," she said as they made their way down the darkened street.

As they got to George's house, he smiled and thanked Jean once again for getting him home. "Sorry I ruined your night," he said looking down.

Jean scoffed. "Oh please George, you didn't ruin anything. Honestly, you probably saved me. I can't be involved with anyone, especially Ron. If you had been anyone else, I'd be out of here tomorrow."

George looked at her and shrugged. "Yea, but you only live once, Sunshine. Gotta take risks on something otherwise are you really living?"

Saying goodnight, they parted and Jean watched him get into the house. Turning to get home herself, she rubbed her gloved hands together.

While she could get in trouble, and knew that it was not her smartest choice ever she couldn't help but think about the "what if" she might have with Ron. As she made her way down the street, she smiled and began to hum the song from earlier that night and continued to as she made her way home and until she fell asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

It was almost 2 months past Christmas and Jean found herself smiling as she walked past the main intersection of the town.

"Hey, Sunshine!" someone yelled, snapping Jean out of her trance.

Bill walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "So what'dya up to tonight? A few of the boys are gonna play cards at the mess."

"So you'd like to invite me so I can continue to make you lose all of your chocolate and cigarettes?" Jean asked politely.

Shoving her shoulder lightly, Bill laughed. "Can I take that as a yes, then?"

Jean confirmed and they went their separate ways to their houses.

Since the beginning of the year, Jean found that she would randomly think of Christmas night and her interaction with Ron. Nothing had happened like that since then, but Jean would still see Ron occasionally. With the new year upon then, training for all of the companies had increased so she hadn't expected to see him often.

But at the bars on weekends, sometimes at the shooting range, and a few times randomly passing in town, Jean saw the handsome lieutenant. Most times it was a passing smile or a lingering finger touching her hand as they stood in a packed bar on a busy night. They had spoken a few times, he asked about her family or would ask little questions about her. What is her favorite color, what is her favorite time of day, what is her favorite dessert, and other silly questions that Jean would answer and ask him in return. Slowly learning more about each other without letting others let on about their... Relationship?

No, Jean didn't think it was a relationship. But it wasn't nothing. While she didn't have a definition, she knew that whatever it was, it was safe.

It was almost better that they were often at a distance. Balancing the fact that she could lose her position and be discharged because of her unconscious draw to the man had her in a hard place. Their small understanding seemed to be fine with both of them as neither had stepped past their normal routine.

She had also made George swear that he wouldn't tell a soul since he knew that something was up. While he might've been a big mouth, he knew how to keep a secret unlike many of the other men who she learned had loved to gossip. 2 years ago, she wouldn't have thought grown men could be worse than the old women in her town, but they proved her wrong.

As she made her way through town, Jean found the cafe that she was meeting a few of her friends at for lunch. Walking in and seeing George, Malarkey, and Leibgott, she beelined her way to the back table they were sitting in.

"Heya Sunshine!" Malarkey greeted. "How's your Saturday treating you?"

Jean fell into conversation with the 4 and ordered lunch.

As the food arrived, they thanked the young woman serving the food, George trying to flirt with her while Jean shoved his shoulder to stop.

"What?" he asked. "Can't blame a guy for trying..."

Jean chuckled as he looked down at his lunch now that the woman was gone. "No, but not all women want to be hit on at their place of work."

The other two men shrugged and ate their food. Jean rolled her eyes and began to eat her meal.

"Well, not all women like to be hit on when they work," Malarkey started, "But it seems like some don't mind it at all. Especially if it's an officer talking sweet to them."

He nodded over to a couple in the front of the cafe near the shop window. Jean followed his gaze and squinted to see what he was talking about.

Almost dropping her fork, she couldn't believe what she saw. Ron Speirs was in a booth with a young women, holder her hands in his across the table, and speaking in what looked like hushed tones of two lovers sharing secrets, "Yea, some girls love those officers." Leibgott remarked. "Looks like she's even got him right where she wants him."

Jean tore her eyes away from looking at Ron's concentration on the other woman and looked back to Joe confused.

"You know," He said. Then motioned an arc over his belly. "They must've hit it off right after we got to Albourne looking at her."

Jean looked back at the front quickly and saw what he meant.

Not only was Ron holding the hands of another woman in public, but the woman was at least 6 months pregnant. She wasn't huge, but she was definitely showing a pregnancy as she sat.

Jean heard Joe chuckle and start to talk with Malarkey about the English woman and the differences between them and American women, but she began to feel nauseous as she tried to stare at her barely touched plate of food. Putting her fork down on her plate she tried to stop the tears from forming in her eyes.

No, she wasn't that weak. She wasn't going to let a man dictate her life. What did she care if he had kissed her while he had someone else back waiting for him.

That thought almost made things worse. Jean was the other woman.

"I'm gonna take off. Need some fresh air." Jean said to the table. "Think I had some bad food last night."

"Oh yea, that gravy stuff last night was nasty," Malarkey said, nodding to her as she stumbled over her chair as she moved away from the table.

George began to follow her out as she walked quickly through the cafe trying to get out without Ron seeing her.

"See ya later, Sunshine!" Leigbott shouted as she just about reached the door.

Pausing, knowing that Joe's goodbye might've caused other's to hear, she looked up at the table in the window. Immediately she was met with dark eyes.

Her resolve was about to fall as Ron began to remove his hands from the other woman and began to sit up as if to stand.

But before she could let him think she was there for him, George grabbed her by the waist, pulled her to the street and began ushering her down the street.

"George, he..." she started to say.

"I can see what he goddamn did, Sunshine." George fumed, still not letting go of her. "He took that broad for a ride and was planning on doing the same to you. Goddamn asshole, thinking he can do whatever the hell he wants."

Jean was quiet as they walked aimlessly about town. What had started as tears in her eyes quickly dried.

She couldn't be upset over something that shouldn't have started in the first place. Yes, she was drawn to the man and was plagued by thoughts of that Christmas Eve daily, but this is what she should've seen coming. He was an officer. Nothing can touch him. Why not spend some time with the only female in the regiment. But she was a lowly private. She needed to keep her head down and stay in the Airborne, not be drawn in by Ron Speirs.

Fighting for her country. Being a part of something bigger than herself. Saving others. That is why she signed those papers two years ago. Not to fall in love.

As George calmed down and Jean thought more about what she saw. She shifted their movement and began walking toward a side street.

"I'm sorry, Jean." George said quietly. "For what I said. For what he did. I just..."

"George Lutz, you stop right there." Jean began, a harshness to her voice. "You don't apologize for anything that man does. He is his own person and doesn't deserve to have you apologize for him. It was me being naive and being quick to-"

"Jean, you weren't being naive, I saw the way he would look-"

"George. Stop. I jumped into it as soon as it happened. But now I'm done. Okay? However it got to where I thought it was, it's done." Jean wasn't sure if she was telling George that it was done or herself, but at this point in time, it didn't matter.

"Okay, Sunshine, but I swear to you, if he tries to do anything to you again..." George said.

Jean smiled softly and nodded. "I get it, George. And thanks."

They wandered down the side street and eventually walked to George's house, where George made her promise that she was alright. After assuring him that she was fine, she told him that she would see him later that night for cards at the mess hall and that she owned him a meal since he ran out with her before touching his own food.

Nodding and giving her a hug, George tipped her chin up and nodded at her. Jean smiled back and nodded in return as George made his way up the drive to his house.

Seeing him enter the front door, Jean turned and began to walk the couple blocks to Mr. Morgan's house. As she approached the drive, she looked up to see Ron on the front porch, sitting on the steps.

Not knowing if she should just keep walking and leave him, or try to walk past him, she chose the latter and walked up the short drive without looking at the Lieutenant.

"Jean, can I talk to you?" Ron started. "I need to tell you-"

"No." She she said. "There is nothing to tell. I saw you and I saw her. That's all the explanation I need. Now please excuse me Lieutenant, I need to get inside."

"Jean, stop." he said as she was half-way in the door.

Turning to face him she saw a sorrow in his eyes, but she knew that her resolve would fall if she let him try to explain himself. She had seen it all and didn't need him to try and explain anything. "Is that an order, sir?"

His eyes quickly turned from questioning to dejected as he looked down and sighed, "No, it's not an order."

Jean nodded at him, "Then goodbye, Lieutenant." Closing the door behind her, she leaned her back against the door and heard Ron eventually turn and walk back down the drive.

* * *

Later that night, Jean joined her friends for a night of poker at the main hall. While she was more quiet than usual, Malarkey was quick to explain that she had a bad reaction to the gravy from the day before and all the men nodded and apologized saying they'd been there before. Jean looked quickly at George who was also there and he just gave her a swift nod and a wink.

The game went on late into the night and it was close to midnight when Jean was making her way back to Mr. Morgan's house when she, Bill, and Toye passed on of the less frequented bars. Most of the customers were walking out on their way home and as she looked, Jean saw Lew, Winters, and Ron walking out together.

Lew looked pleased and buzzed while Winters looked the same as always as he and Ron kept his conversation. Bill yelled a hello to the officers and they all nodded in response. Jean not being able to keep her eyes off Ron as she walked by him. Looking at her, he didn't say anything, just stared at her with a blank look on his face until she had passed him and lost his eye.

The same blankness that he used to stare at her with before they shared countless nights of guard duty together. The same blank stare that he used to give her when she would run by D company for PT. The same look that he would give her before they kissed. The same look he reserved for everyone.

That was it then. She thought that if he was back to treating her the same as every other man, she could do the same for him. He was a commanding officer and she would respect him for that and no more.

Not listening to Bill and Joe as they rambled on about something, she said her goodbyes as they came to her house.

After changing to fresh clothes to sleep in, Jean decided that she needed to let all thoughts of Ronald Speirs out of her head. She looked at the now dried flowers on her nightstand and the letter that had accompanied them. Taking the flowers, she smelled them one last time before walking them to the first floor where she disposed of them in the back.

Back in her room, she look the letter in her hands. The letter than he had written for her as she mourned her father. The letter that helped her know that she wasn't alone and that he hadn't pitied her, but that he had cared. Slowly folding the letter up, instead of throwing it out like her head was telling her to do, she tucked it in a drawer with her socks and shirts, telling herself that in a few days she would throw it away. That she was just keeping it because of the link that it had to her father. Nothing to do with Ron Speirs the man that she had feelings for. Just Ron Speirs, the man that cared enough to send flowers and a card when she was grieving. That man she would hold on to just a little longer. Or at least the memory of that man that she would hold on to.


End file.
